Hidden Bloodlines
by Jchild
Summary: Co-written with Tfoot - Usagi, Minako, and Haruka have a few things they're not telling the scouts...but when their little brother comes to town with some friends...Chapter 13 - about time ne?
1. Family Reunions

Sheena: Be afraid  
  
Meg: Be _VERY_ afraid, we got this finished  
  
Sheena: Well the first part anyway....this looks like it's going to be loooooong!  
  
Meg: **groans** i sorta kinda noticed that  
  
Sheena: Duh ^_^.  
  
Meg: ummm i guess we have to say we don't own any of them but if someone want to buy me Wu i'm soooo not objecting  
  
Sheena: You'll share won't you?   
  
Meg: LIKE HELL!!!!!!!!  
  
Sheena: BEEDA!!!!!!!! **sniffs** Well then I'll just post the fic then!  
  
Meg: ummm Shee-chan we were doing that neway  
  
Sheena: What_ever!_ **valleygirl accent** **cringes** I've GOT to stop doing that!  
  
Disclaimer: We don't own 'em(M: u can still buy me Wu though hint hint) (S: You're going to keep going on about that aren't you?! If I draw you a Wu pic will you be quiet?)(M: Thankie thankie thankie!!! ummm i'll shut up now **tries to decide whether to celebrate or sulk**)  
We're just poor University students. In case you didn't know Uni Student is a euphimism for "Permanently Broke"  
Warnings: Xover....we're not telling who though....don't be too scared. Slight Quatre torture....only slight (S: **snicker**)(M:**giggle**). Yuri & Yaoi & Het eventually.  
Authors: Jchild & Thunderfoot  
Pairings: None in evidence (M: & S: YET!!!)  
Author notes:   
  
Sheena: Sooo _not_ our fault. But we're having so much fun.  
  
Meg: And a sleep over party and she gave me caffiene and she gave me coke and she  
  
Sheena: **snatches back keyboard** Sooo _not_ my fault....I SWEAR!!!!! **watches M-chan run round the room in circles cackling** -_-;; Now where did I put that darn mallet?!  
  
Meg: nah nah i nicked it earlier while we watching BGC2040  
  
Sheena: Oh, I thought it was while I was cooking?  
  
Meg: uh uh i nicked the reptiles note book then!!!!!!!!!!! **runs like hell**  
  
Sheena: WHAT?!!!! GET BACK HERE!!!!!! Anyway here's the fic. Let's see if you can guess who it's crossed over with.  
  
Meg: **pokes head back into room** it not like it's hard or ne thing **runs out again**  
  
Sheena: I'll get you my pretty.....and you're little dog too.....**cackles evily**  
  
Meg: ummm what about the two cats, the bird, the turtle, the chooks and everthing else they'll get lonley **pouts**  
  
Both: Never mind us we just want to PROVE to you all that we ARE totally insane.  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Aren't family visits _fun_" - Haruka  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The war was over. Quatre, being the Winner heir, was obliged to assess damages to his properties caused by the war. Unwilling to face this daunting task alone, he 'dragged' his fellow Gundam pilots with him. They were currently 'assessing' the damage done to the Olympic sized, internationally approved, pool....complete with diving tower and water slides, that was on the Juuban estate.  
  
Due to the unusual heat wave and high humidity, they were currently lounging around the pool, assessing damages to deck chairs....according to Duo.  
  
Duo was making _absolutely_ certain that his deck chair, perfectly functional according to him, was comfortable as well. It appeared to be so if his current position was anything to go by. He had fallen asleep while reading 'The War Gods Own' [1]. It had fallen onto his dark green, UV-protective T-shirt clad chest. When asked why he was overdressed he muttered darkly "I get _sunburnt_ 'K, so sue me." and refused to talk to anyone for a full fifteen minutes. Rashid had taken pity on the snoring boy and moved the sun umbrella so that he would only have sunburnt legs and toes when he woke up.  
  
Wufei was doing the exact opposite of his fellow pilot. He was clad in only black board shorts, and a pair of black Ray-Bans adorned his face. He was evening up his tan close by the pool.  
  
Trowa was sprawled in the spa, which had been turned off earlier in the day when it was discovered it had been doctored with two or three different varieties of heavily scented, fruity bubble bath. No one was admitting to the prank, but they weren't looking for the culprit either......they had no need to, Duo's smirk said it all, not that they even needed that much evidence.  
  
Heero had scouted the perimeter, and surrounding countryside, examined all the deck chairs, at Duo's persistent insistence, swum a few laps to check the integrity of the pool, and was currently engaging in a snoring competition with Duo from the opposite side of the pool.....Heero was currently winning in both snoring _and_ sleep talking.....what could they say, when Heero felt safe he _relaxed_.....Quatre and Trowa had already gathered some good blackmail material.  
  
Quatre, having just emerged from the water, was sun baking on a towel by the edge of the pool. His green and white boardies were drying quickly in the heat.  
  
All in all the boys were working hard.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Usagi sighed in relief as she dropped her many bags onto the four poster, king sized bed. Rolling her shoulders to relieve the tension, she pushed apart the chiffon curtains, and wandered out the French double doors onto the balcony.  
  
Taking a deep breath of cleansing fresh air, she leisurely scanned the heat distorted skyline. There wasn't a cloud in sight to signal a change in the weather.  
  
As she turned to retreat to the air-conditioned comfort of her room to change into her swimming togs, she glanced down towards the pool. Before her gaze reached the pool she froze, expressions of horror and dismay chasing each other across her face.  
  
**Him.........him.........** "K'SO!!!!!" Following this comment was an impressive, multilingual string of curses. These floated down from the balcony, finishing in a high pitched wail.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
From the spa, a single green eye flickered upwards, impressed.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Minako stumbled into her room, dropping her bags in a haphazard trail as she wove her way over to her extra large, custom made bed. Dropping the last of her bags in a pile, she collapsed on the bed, wrenching off her sandals, and falling backwards with a relieved sigh.  
  
Lying there, eyes closed, enjoying the cool, she was mildly disturbed when she heard a string of inventive interplanetary swearing, followed by one of her Princess' trademark wails.  
  
After bouncing across the bed, she exploded out onto the balcony, henshin wand held like a baseball bat, ready for trouble.  
  
Upon seeing no visible Youma, or Youma damage - it _was_ rather easy to spot after the first two or so encounters -, Minako placed her wand back into her subspace pocket. She walked over to Usagi, glancing down at the pool to see what the problem was. Her eyes widened as she spotted the bishounen lounging around the pool in various states of dishabille. "Usa, check out the guys!"  
  
The pair leaned over the rail to get a closer look.  
  
"Hey, that's the cutie from Crown yesterday!" Minako exclaimed.  
  
"What? Which one?!"  
  
"The one in the spa. He wiped out all of your top scores on the mobile suit computer game yesterday."  
  
"What?!"  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Trowa glanced up at the balcony once more. He had already deduced that since they were inside they mansion they were either no threat, or a very _large_ threat.  
  
Due to the fact that they had hearts in their eyes and were drooling profusely, and not showering them with bullets - a nice change as far as he was concerned -, he placed them in the 'odd but perfectly harmless' category.  
  
He couldn't help but wonder how they had managed to get past the Manguanacs......even Heero couldn't do that.   
  
He also made a note to himself to find her and get her to teach him how to swear like _that_.....she was better than Wufei........and knew more languages.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Oooohhh, lookie....no SHIRT!"  
  
"Check out his _hair_"  
  
"KAWAII!!!!" Was heard in stereo.  
  
The girls were busy......assessing the assets of the boys below when they spotted a _very_ familiar head of blonde hair.  
  
They looked, looked again, and confirmed their suspicions. A dual cry shattered the peace.  
  
" 'RUKA......30's HOME!!"  
  
The two senshi launched themselves from the balcony, aiming their landing to coincide with the deepest part of the pool, close by their victim. The fact that they were still wearing their sun dresses, and Usagi was still wearing her sandals not stopping their thought of vengeance.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Rashid was watching the proceedings on the balcony with interest. He decided against warning the intended victim.  
  
As the girls entered the pool, he grasped the back of Wufei's chair and took three quick steps backwards, removing himself and the Chinese boy from the range of the splash.  
  
Wufei sat up suddenly, fully alert. He glanced back to see who had moved his chair so rapidly. Rashid just looked down and gave the Shenlong pilot a smirk and a wink before turning back to watch the display.  
  
He began to snicker quietly.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Quatre was lying on his towel, now fully dry and nice and warm. He was enjoying the sun when a bellow from one of the balconies startled him out of his dozing state. He absentmindedly thought **Note to self: Get Manguanacs to shoot whoever that was**  
  
Then what he had actually heard sunk in. His eyes snapped open. **Oh _crap_. Was it?..Yes it was. Two voices, _damn_. Calling for who?..Uh-oh! Did they say 'Ruka?....Oh _shit_ they did. They said 30. I have _sooooo_ got to get out of here.** He began to vocalize his thoughts -  
  
"Cra..........old!!!" Gurgle   
  
- as he vanished into the pool.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The rest of the pilots watched, or in the case of Duo _didn't_, the proceedings with various reactions.  
  
Heero was startled awake by the cry and was quickly on his feet, pointing his gun at the balcony.  
  
The empty balcony.  
  
Before his sleep fuddled mind had time to assess where the targets had gone he was doused by the splash wave from the pool.  
  
Heero quickly scanned the area, searching for further threats. He looked over towards the pool just in time to see Quatre vanish into it, towel and all. He continued to look around to see why no-one else had reacted to the threat.  
  
Trowa hadn't even _twitched_, he was just watching the proceedings with a smirk on his face. Rashid had a look of gleeful indifference on his face.  
  
Heero shrugged and put his gun back in Spandex Space. Well if those two weren't worried, it obviously wasn't a threat to Quatre.  
  
Heero looked to the balcony again. It was no longer empty, another blonde stood there together with a girl with, Heero paused, aqua hair?!  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Trowa leisurely lifted himself out of the spa and grabbed his towel to dry off his dark green boardies. He sauntered over to the spot where Quatre was.....had been sun baking to see how well he was doing at breathing underwater.  
  
The two girls were standing on top of him. The one with the odd pigtails was bouncing up and down, managing to look both cheerful and pissed off at the same time. Something Trowa thought only Duo could achieve with such ease.....he didn't know whether to worry. He decided to keep them apart as much as possible otherwise the results could be disasterous.........Somehow he just _knew_ it was going to be harder than it sounded.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Minako reached back down into the water and grabbed a big handful of Quatre's boardies. With a flick of her arm, she launched him out of the water, over the edge of the pool, and onto the tiles.  
  
Quatre lay there, doing an Oscar winning performance of a landed fish.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Wufei watched this display with interest. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Abdul collapse laughing against the boundary fence. After a quick look around he discovered most of the Manguanacs were in similar states of amusement. He raised an eyebrow **So this isn't an odd occurance then.....well not _that_ odd**.  
  
Duo was no longer able to ignore the racket going on around him, actually he thought he was missing out on a water fight but anyway. He sat up, ready to launch himself into the pool, but upon seeing the three similar looking blondes did a double take and exclaimed with a yelp "ACK! There's three of 'em"  
  
A voice drifted down from the balcony. "Four."   
  
Once again a splash was heard.  
  
Quatre whimpered and attempted to curl up into a fetal position - not easy to achieve when you have two people sitting on you.  
  
"'Ruka," he muttered "Shiiiiiiiit."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
'Ruka pulled herself from the pool and wandered over to where the blonde pilot was pinned to the tiles.  
  
Minako and Usagi were firmly attached to their victim. Minako was sitting on his thighs and poking him in the ribs, while Usagi was situated on his chest shaking his shoulders and consequently banging his head on the tiles.  
  
They were muttering in time to their torture. "You brought them back pokethump. You _brought_ them back pokethump. You _brought_ them _back_ pokethump. We _just_ got _rid_of_them PokeCRACK."  
  
A moan of "Itai" was heard from beneath the two girls.  
  
'Ruka lent over and smirked at the boy. "Aren't family visits _fun_ 30."  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
tbc.  
  
[1] **pair wave** Hi Christy!! Megan had the book....we were inspired.  
  



	2. The Winner Line

Many many MANY thanks to the countless people who reviewed and said that they were enjoying this fic!  
  
HIDDEN BLOODLINES PART 2: THE WINNER LINE  
  
**Thoughts**  
  
_emphasis_  
  
"Speaking" (though this one's a given)  
  
I think that's all the funny little symbol thingies we used this time.  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em unfortunately, we're just poor Uni students having some fun torturing our favourite anime characters. Don't sue!  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Previously on Hidden Bloodlines:  
  
'Ruka lent over and smirked at the boy. "Aren't family visits _fun_ 30."  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Haruka looked down at the younger senshi currently engaged in maiming the blonde boy. "You pair finished yet?" she asked with an indulgent smile on her face, "I know you haven't seen him for a while but you might _actually_ do some damage to him if you keep that   
up."  
  
The other two girls gave derisive snorts and rolled their eyes but removed themselves, rather slowly, from the dazed boy.  
  
Quatre staggered to his feet, dripping wet, rubbed the back of his head, and glared at the three grinning girls standing in front of him. Before he could give any his assailants a piece of his rather battered mind they had glomped onto him one on each arm. He didn't think dislodging them would be easy either **Have they been taking lessons from Relena?**  
  
The other pilots had gathered around to watch what was going on with interest, Quatre was rather miffed that none of them had moved to help him in anyway.   
  
The two girls were now clinging, rather tightly, to Quatre's chest. The one with the pigtails began wailing, "You didn't call! All this stuff was happening... And then father... and you   
didn't call. We were so WORRIED!!!"   
  
The other was alternating between boxing his ears and bellowing, "BAD QUATRE!!!!! BAD!!!!" into them.  
  
He was beginning to develop a headache.  
  
Trowa chuckled slightly at the sight, "So which three of your sisters are these?"  
  
Haruka just smirked and replied in a rather Yui-esque way "21."   
  
The energetic reply from one of the other sisters more than made up for the sparse answer. The one with the odd pigtails bubbly answered in a manner that reminded Trowa of Quatre on a caffeine high, "Yeah and she's 28," she pointed to the blonde with her hair in a red bow. She then pointed to herself, "And I'm 29. 30 here is the runt!!!" she commented while looking.... up at her little brother. "NO FAIR!!! He grew!!!" She pouted.  
  
Duo laughed at the put out look on her face. He was beginning to notice what the lightweight cotton sun dresses the two girls were wearing looked like when wet. He decided to remind them in a _not_ so subtle way. "Q, I have to admit those are two _fine_ looking sisters you've got there!!!!"   
  
Wufei rolled his eyes at Duo's rather tactless comment and thwapped him up the side of the head.   
  
That didn't bother Duo much, he was used to it and Wu knew he was only teasing. Actually Duo was more concerned with the commendable impression of a Yui Death Glare (tm) that was coming from Quatre than his ringing ear- a mad Quatre was a _very_ scary thing.  
  
Quatre scowled darkly and stepped into line of sight of his fellow pilot's and the youngest Winner females, his elder sisters. He glanced back over his shoulder and managed to grind out "You pair. Inside. Change. NOW!!!!"  
  
The two girls, still blushing a deep red, took off for the house, the one with the pigtails   
slipping in her wet sandals as she skidded through the door to the house, nearly crashing into the frame.  
  
Quatre watched his two sisters scamper off. He was turning back to warn the pilots off _his_ sisters when he found himself the unwilling participant of a headlock. He gave a yelp and tried to free himself without any luck.  
  
Haruka reached down and began to give her little brother an affectionate noogie. Quatre began to protest loudly, but received the same results as always -   
none, "'Ruka!!! Lay off!!!!!"  
  
'Ruka stopped the noogie but didn't release him from the headlock. She looked slightly amused as he tried to worm his way out of grasp. "You should have called those two you know. They were _really_ worried about you, just ask the Manguanacs you had assigned to them." She let him out of the headlock and he stumbled slightly.   
  
"Yeah, the ones out of ICU and still capable of coherent speech. I _swear_ Rashid is the only one they'll listen to." He straitened up, wincing as he rubbed his poor, much abused head. **I need a panadol.**  
  
Haruka took no notice. She was scanning the pilots with interest, "So... which one's your boyfriend then?"  
  
Quatre blushed and quickly retorted, "And exactly _where_ is your girlfriend?"  
  
"Knowing Michi, in the pool." She hadn't even looked.  
  
Heero grunted, "There's no-one in the pool she is standing on the balcony." He turned around and started when he saw Michiru resting against the side of the pool, waving at the group.  
  
Michiru pulled herself from the water and walked over to introduce herself to her lovers' only brother. In response Quatre introduced Trowa and the other boys.   
  
As the introductions were concluding the other two girls raced out on to the balcony. Quatre was much relieved to see they had changed into different sun dresses. The two girls smiled, waved, and called down to the group still by the pool.  
  
Duo slung an arm around Quatre's shoulders and lent in close, "So what are their names?" At Quatre's glare he took a couple of steps back and raised his hands in mock surrender. "I said _names_ not _numbers_ sheesh!"  
  
Quatre's eyebrow twitched, **this is Duo, Mr. Flirt. You don't have to worry. This is _Duo_ he and Wufei are an item. You don't have to worry... by Allah if he does _anything_ to hurt them he dies!!! **  
  
He managed to reply calmly, but his eyebrow just would _not_ stop twitching, "The one with her hair out is Minako and the one with the Odango's is Usagi."  
  
"I'll _get_ you for that 30!" Drifted down from the balcony. It was followed by a much more important statement - from Duo's and Usagi's points of view at least. "Fatima says that afternoon tea will be served in the conservatory in 30 minutes. So hurry up and get changed, I'm _HUNGRY_!"  
  
Quatre grinned and said to Haruka, "So what else is new?"  
  
"I _heard_ that!"  
  
Quatre blinked and shook his head, "What doesn't she hear?"  
  
Haruka grinned back at him, "Koneko? Not much."  
  
Duo's ears perked up with interest, "You've got a kitten?" He gave Quatre a strange look as the boy shuddered.  
  
Haruka just smiled, "No, I have imouto's and one _lucky_ otouto."  
  
Quatre shuddered again and winced. "Or unlucky," he muttered at what he thought was under his breath.  
  
Haruka clipped him behind the ear. "Be nice." she admonished.  
  
"We better go and get changed you know what she's like when she hasn't had food." Michiru spoke up quietly from where she had been standing.  
  
"Worse than Duo." Quatre cringed at one particular memory of a hungry Usagi, "Does she still inhale her food?"  
  
The other pilots looked at him, disbelieving.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
CONSERVATORY 30 MINUTES LATER  
  
Duo and Usagi were currently the only people in the conservatory. They were already busy stuffing their faces, not bothering to wait for the rest of their friends and family to arrive.  
  
"So, what're you doin' in Juuban?" Duo asked Usagi around a mouthful of food.  
  
Usagi shrugged, "We live in Juuban. We wanted to use the pool." She elaborated, "The pool at the Outers mansion is nowhere _near_ as big as the one here so we decided to visit. Besides, Fatima is the _best_ cook!!"  
  
Duo frowned, "So you don't live on the estate then?"  
  
"Nah," Usagi shook her head and swallowed her mouthful of cake. "Mina 'n I live with our foster families and 'Ruka 'n Michi live at their mansion with the Outers."  
  
The rest of the group entered the conservatory, none of them were really surprised to see the two teens there already stuffing their faces.  
  
"Hey Q-man! How come these two have foster parents?"  
  
"For their safety."  
  
Everyone walked over to the table while Quatre explained why the two youngest Winners had foster parents. When he was done he turned to Haruka, "So, where have _you_ been for the last 3 years then 'Ruka?"  
  
Haruka gave a smug grin; "Around."   
  
The comment earned her a thump on the arm from Michiru. Quatre just rolled his eyes, used to his sisters evasiveness, "Okay what name have you been using then?" It would be rather easy to do a search on her if he knew what name she had been using.  
  
"Ten'ou Haruka."  
  
Wufei raised an eyebrow, "I thought you were male." 'Ruka just smirked. "That would make you," he turned to Michiru, "Kai'ou Michiru, the violinist"  
  
  
"Uh-huh." Mina commented from the other side of the table, cupcake in   
hand.  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Everyone was started on their second cups of tea or coffee, it really depended on whom you were, when a black haired child streaked into the room screaming causing the   
Gundam pilots to go for their guns. They relaxed at the realization it was only a small   
child. They blinked in unison, a small child?  
  
"Haruka-papa, Michiru-mama TADAIMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
'Ruka leapt out of her seat and swept the black haired girl into a bear hug, choosing to ignore the fact that her little brother's jaw in the vicinity of his plate. "Did you have fun at science camp?"  
  
The child vigorously nodded her head, "Uh-huh. We blew up the chemistry lab and nearly burnt down the new kitchen but we had lots n lots of fun!!" She looked up towards Michiru noticing, for the first time, the other, unknown, occupants of the room. She shied back and grabbed Michiru's hand, trying to hide behind her skirt. "Michiru-mama, who're they."   
  
Quatre watched the family group in amazement. He noticed that his other two sisters didn't seem to be surprised by this display at all; he decided to call them on it later.  
  
'Ruka placed a hand on Hotaru's shoulder and began some introductions. "That," she pointed to Quatre, "Is your uncle Quatre and those are his friends." She pointed to Trowa, "That one over there is his boyfriend Trowa, so I guess that makes him your uncle too..."   
  
Before she could continue Hotaru had shot over to where Trowa was sitting. She looked up at him with a serious expression on her face before grinning and clambering up into his lap. "That's really cool I've never had Uncles before!! I'm Tomoe Hotaru!!!!" She waved at her other uncle sitting across the table, wondering vaguely _why_ he was spluttering   
like that.   
  
Trowa looked down at the large, trusting violet eyes and smiled softly. "I'm Trowa, and I've never had a niece before." She smiled and curled up to him.  
  
Mina smiled and looked over at the pair, "You're looking really well at the moment 'Taru."  
  
"The fresh air always does her good." A tall, regal looking figure walked through the door.  
  
Hotaru beamed at her third guardian, "Hey look Setsuna-mama, I've got uncles.... two of 'em!"  
  
Setsuna smiled at the girl. From the end of the table Usagi spoke up, "Aren't you going to say hello to us Hotaru-chan?"   
  
Hotaru looked over at the youngest girls in the room beside herself and waved, "Hi Usagi-hime, Hi Mina-san! Guess what I went to science camp and....," the girl continued explaining the workings of her science camp - complete with various explosions that Duo vowed to try and replicate sometime - interspersed with large yawns until she finally fell asleep on Trowa. He didn't seem to mind.  
  
Usagi looked over at Setsuna, "Is she okay Setsuna?"  
  
"She's fine Hime-sama, just tired. As you noticed she had a rather busy week."  
  
Usagi scowled, "Don't call me that _Puu_." She turned to her still _slightly_ stunned brother, "Q, could you please call Rashid and get him to take her up to your room."  
  
Trowa stood up, Hotaru still in his arms, and before Quatre could even think of calling for anyone he was out of the room.   
  
"And _how_ did I become an uncle?" Quatre had finally recovered from is spluttering fit.  
  
Minako giggled. "Do you want me to get Rashid to explain the birds and the flowers to you? Or does your boyfriend want the honours Q?"  
  
Quatre blushed and threw her a dirty look. Heero arched an eyebrow and commented quietly, "Birds and flowers?"  
  
Usagi gave a long-suffering sigh, "Don't ask."  
  
Quatre rolled his eyes, "So she _still_ has that problem? I thought she'd've grown out of that by now."  
  
"You have _no_ idea." Haruka spoke up as she took a sip from her teacup.  
  
"Hey I'm not _that_ bad anymore!" Mina protested.  
  
"Anyway," Haruka placed her teacup back in its saucer, "To answer your question Quatre, she lives with us. She's ours."  
  
Setsuna and Usagi rolled their eyes at Haruka's oh so informative answer. Duo was beginning to wonder if Haruka was actually a long lost relation to either Heero or Trowa, master of the monosyllabic answer, sole speakers of the Universal Grunt language - if they made noise at all.  
  
Michiru gave Haruka another thump on the arm. She turned to Quatre with an apologetic smile and an explanation of how they came to meet Hotaru. She told of how when   
her father died the pair were the closest thing she had to a family. Of course she gave the   
abridged version, omitting _all_ mention of sailor senshi, death busters and exploding schools, along with details of Hotaru's parents deaths.  
  
Throughout this explanation, Usagi and Minako tried _very_ hard to remain innocent looking and, while they would have fooled _most_ people, all of the pilots took notice of this and stored it in the - interesting, annoy someone about this later- file.  
  
Once the explanation was over Haruka, in her ever-tactful manner, decided to find out why her little brother was in the area."So what're you doing in this trouble zone then 30?"  
  
"Better here than at the estate in Nerima, it's not even standing! I don't know _what_ happened to it. The most coherent explanation I got, and even _that_ was a little strange, involved a red head and boy with fangs and an umbrella. Juuban is _tame_ by comparison."  
  
Duo's and Wufei's eyebrows met their hairlines. Quatre had _no_ idea.  
  
"You reckon?" echoed from various locations around the room.  
  
Setsuna's eyebrow gave a microscopic twitch.  
  
"Anyway, this was our last port of call."  
  
"Oh," said Mina. "So you're headed back to L4 then."  
  
Quatre just looked at her speculatively, if he didn't know better she was trying to get rid of him, "No. We're going to stay here.... and while I think of it. If I'm here you pair are moving   
back in." He didn't even dare to suggest it to Haruka.  
  
The pair looked at him, horrified and disbelieving, this could be a problem.  
  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
-tbc-  
  



	3. Classroom Coniptions

Disclaimer: Don't own any of these characters.  
Authors: Jchild & Thunderfoot  
Pairings so far: 2x5, 3x4, Haruka/Michiru  
  
  
  
Authors notes:  
  
Okay we've decided to answer a few questions we've been asked, not in too much detail though or we'll spoil the plot.  
  
1. Why 2x5?  
  
There are a few reasons. We're both _major_ 2x5 fans, those two just suit each other so well. It also puts two more g-boys out of the running for Usa, we have plans for her. *Evil cackle* It's not like this is going to be a 2x5 lemon or anything; it'll only be mentioned in passing.  
  
  
2. What is the time line?  
  
*Groans* Do we _have_ to? Umm, okay then. It's sometime after the war (Duh) for Gundam and after Stars. Jchild: Usa is Cosmos cause I _hate_ the Eternal Sailor Moon costume it is _ugly_.  
  
3. Are Mamoru and Relena going to be in this?  
  
Yes. Mamo-baka and Psycho Wench (AKA Relena, she's a _strange_ girl) will be in this.  
Please _don't_ kill us. We will _not_ be putting them with Heero or Usa; we torture them but not _that_ much.Tfoot: Personally I've got nothing against Relena, she's actually not that bad in EW, and I've read some _brilliant_ 1xR fics. She's just _odd_.  
  
  
4. Why have we got Haruna-sensei? (We are answering this Q in advance.)  
  
Yes we know she doesn't teach the girls high school... but it's Haruna-sensei we can't just _abandon_ her!!  
  
5. Is this an Usa/Heero fic? Who's she paired with?  
  
No. Nonononononono. There are _far_ too many of those around as there is, and while we have read some good Usa/Heero fics we just can't see the personalities as we write them meshing very well at all. Besides do you really think Q would _let_ him anywhere near her? Or would Rashid?  
  
Who's she going to be paired with..? You'll see, all we're saying is it's not a G-boy.  
  
6. Why did it take us so long to get the next bit out?  
  
We had holidays ^_^ but only for a week -_- oh well it was good while it lasted. (Tfoot: We also have an odd way of writing this thing -_-;; _don't_ ask.)  
  
  
  
Hidden Bloodlines Part III:   
  
The two girls looked at Quatre, twin expressions of horror and disbelief chasing their way across their faces. Mouths opened and closed as they processed what their little brother had just said.   
  
"WHAT!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
The continued to stare at their brother in abject horror, similar thoughts chasing their way through their minds *This is _not_ good. This is bad... this is very, _very_, BAD!!!!*  
  
Usagi was the first to snap out of her stupor, "Do you have _any_ idea as to how long it will take to get to school from here?" she asked. "We can't get there in time on a good day!" She pulled herself up to her full height - which wasn't really that tall to begin with in the first place in indignant anger.  
  
Quatre looked at her unfazed. The protest had not been unexpected. After all, they were all as stubborn as each other - it was a Winner trait. He waved a hand absentmindedly, "One of the Manguanacs can drive you."  
  
Usagi snorted, a mental image of her friends reactions to someone like Rashid dropping them off at school running through her mind. "Oh yeah, and wouldn't that look great!!".  
  
Duo piped up from his seat, a wicked grin adorning his features, "The only thing worse would be turning up at school in a _pink_ limo!"  
  
Trowa choked on his coffee and started coughing, a suspiciously amused look in his one visible eye. Heero mad an odd choking noise and covered a smirk with one hand, while glaring at anyone who dared say anything. Wufei just rolled his eyes.  
  
Haruka raised an eyebrow and vowed to find out what all that was about later.  
  
Quatre gave then two youngest Winner females a very cold, hard glare, "No Arguments." The tone, and the expression were icy.  
  
Neither of the girls paid any attention to him. They glared right back at him and began to argue.  
  
Haruka sighed and mad herself comfortable, *Knowing these three, this may take a while. **  
  
The debate... debacle continued long into the night with neither party   
repeating themselves. Haruka didn't contribute at all, after all this didn't involve her, Quatre knew better than to tell her what to do. Duo decided to help out, changing sides whenever he thought one had a good point or it looked like the other side might be winning. Usagi and Minako were ready to beat him within an inch of his life.  
  
Quatre proved without a doubt that he and Haruka were related, revealing a very large stubborn streak. The girls where getting nowhere - with or without Duo's 'help'.  
  
The discussion ran down to it's forgone conclusion around midnight, Setsuna had left around ten with a funny look on her face. The girls lost the argument, badly. Belatedly the remembered just how good their brother was at negotiation. In the end it came down to deals. Both remembered the hard way that as a rule you _never_ made deals with Quatre, you always come out worse off than when you started. First rule: Ignore the puppy face and for goodness sake do _not_ pay attention to the pout!  
  
The pair received concession to return home the next/that afternoon, Sunday, to pack their things and explain the situation to their foster parents.  
  
The amount of packing and explaining to their foster families was the least of their concerns. *How the hell are we going to explain this to our cats!!!! *  
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Monday was another normal day at school, boring. Usagi had already eaten her lunch and was currently napping at her desk. The time was 9.30 am, just another nice normal day, on the surface at least.  
  
Minako was sitting at her desk silently fuming at her brothers high handedness. You could almost see the smoke coming out her ears.  
  
Makoto was trying to find out what was wrong with the two girls. Before Usagi had fallen asleep she had been in much the same mood as Minako, snarling at anyone who approached her.  
  
Since her princess was doing an imitation of a chain saw, it left Makoto to try and find out what had happened through Minako - it wasn't working. She was flicking notes to Minako who would snatch them out of thin air, without looking. Then, without even looking at the note, Minako would pelt it back to the girl at super-speed, showing just why she was so good at volleyball. Makoto didn't even see them coming and as a result, a number of small red dots peppered her forehead.  
  
Ami was also slightly distracted by her friends uncharacteristic behaviour of her friends, well not the not flicking, the lack of attention Minako and Makoto were showing or the fact that Usagi was already asleep, but the fact that neither of the blondes had not been late for school that morning. In fact both of them had been early, half an hour early, and arrived together, scowling and glaring at anybody who came near. Then they had both disappeared into the office for some reason, scowling even worse when they came out. As a rule both these were rare occurrences that _never_ happened on the same day.  
  
Haruna-sensei was barely holding back on her urge to pelt the girls with a rapid fire of chalk dusters at the girls at a speed that would put some Youma to shame.  
  
A bit over an hour later she was about ready to give in to that desire. It wasn't that Usagi was snoring loudly, that was normal, but when she started a litany of, "Baka, baka, baka, baka. 30 no baka - shine!" it was slightly more than a little irritating. It was even worse when Minako crossed her arms and began to nod her head emphatically with each muttered 'baka' and had an unsettling gleam in her usually cheerful gaze.   
  
Haruna had to admit it was slightly better than her drooling all over her desk and muttering "Mamo-chan", though that hadstopped lately and had been briefly replaced with her crying in her sleep.  
  
She had just picked up two chalk dusters and was about to take aim when the door to the room snapped open and the principal of the school walked in. After a rather rapid conversation with Haruna he left the room leaving the door open. Haruna cleared her throat to regain the students attention, "Class, class?" Of course it didn't quite work, they were more interested in gossip. "SHADDUP!!!!"  
  
_That_ got their attention, "Thank you. Class we have five new students."  
  
Minako's and Usagi's heads snapped up.  
  
"You've _got_ to be kidding." They stated in unison, glaring at the doorway.  
  
Makoto's gaze flickered between the two when they did that they looked so similar it was eerie. If she didn't know better, she'd say they were related. "Guys wassup?" she hissed while watching the doorway prepared for trouble.  
  
Five boys walked in.  
  
Makoto immediately began to drool. Usagi groaned and collapsed back in her desk, muttering about doing something anatomically impossible to '30' - whoever that was. Minako began repeatedly banging her head on her desk and the joined Usagi in threatening '30'.  
  
Ami watched her friends, worried expression on her face. There reactions were _so_ out of character for them. Usually they would be joining Makoto and the rest of the girls in drooling over the new guys. Thinking of the new guys Ami looked up to see who was producing these effects in her friends and did a double take. She knew who they were.  
  
"Please introduce yourselves."  
  
"Heero Yui."  
  
"Duo Maxwell, pleased ta meetcha!"  
  
"Trowa Barton."  
  
"Quatre Raberba Winner."  
  
A murmur went through the class at that name, who hadn't heard of the Winners? Usagi and Minako both let out a resigned sigh.  
  
"Chang Wufei."  
  
Haruna looked at the boys, "find an empty seat, sit down and shut up... please. Usagi, stay awake or a weeks detention."  
  
The Winner boy chuckled at that, Ami could have sworn he muttered "Same old Usa."  
  
The boys spread out heading to various empty seats around the classroom. Quatre had spotted an empty seat towards the back of the room and was headed towards it. There was just one small detail he'd missed - he had to pass one pissed off Minako to get there. One minute he was walking towards his new desk, the next he was eyeball to eyeball with her, her hand fisted in the front of his uniform.   
  
Mina glared fiercely into the eyes that were so similar to her own, "_You_ are _so_ going to get it _30_, you could have _warned_ us you know!"  
  
Ami looked at Minako, horrified expression on her features. She was acting so strangely today, Ami was wondering if she had been replaced with an evil pod-person, and then reprimanded herself for watching too many B-rated Sci-fi movies with Usagi and the other girls.  
  
Makoto scrambled for pen and paper and scribbled another hasty note to Minako before flicking it to her. Minako reached up and caught it, without looking, one hand still fisted in Quatre's school shirt. The blonde merely arched an eyebrow.  
  
Giving up she opened it, sighing and letting go of Quatre's shirt - her conveying a threat of grievous bodily harm yet to come.   
  
//Don't pick on the Bishies!!!!!! :( //  
  
Rolling her eyes she quickly wrote a reply on the back of the note and shot it back to Makoto at super speed, smirking as she managed to, yet again, bean her on the forehead.  
  
//I'll explain at lunch.//  
  
The class was tenser than normal leading up until the lunch bell; most of the class was burning with curiosity about the new students. Umino was doing his best to get information on the new students from the messy, brown haired boy with the cold eyes that had sat down next to him. He wasn't getting anything except icy glares and the occasional death threat. That didn't faze Umino, he'd faced down Youma this guy couldn't be anywhere near as bad, he was giving it a good shot though.  
  
Quatre spent a stress filled lesson waiting for the bell to ring, his imagination kept thinking up worse and worse scenarios of what his two slightly irritated sisters were going to do to him. The rest of the boys were merely bored, bored and little uncomfortable with the multitude of girls drooling over them.   
  
Minako and Usagi _really_ wanted to turn and start pummeling Quatre in the middle of the classroom, they really did. But they held back on the urge, it would take too long to explain; besides they had promised Rashid.  
  
Makoto had joined... no, was heading the pack of girls scoping out the guys. Ami, on the other hand, was content with the fact that she would find out what was going on at lunch, and if she didn't she'd just ply the two blondes with ice-cream until they told.  
  
The bell rang, Quatre winced and tried to make a run for it.  
  
The girls caught him on his way out of the room. Haruna-sensei gave them a startled look but held her peace, for the sake of her sanity.  
  
Quatre found himself dragged bodily out of the classroom, down the steps, and was finally deposited - or should that be thrown, - under an oak tree.  
  
Standing he held back a sigh as he spotted another, familiar blonde sister standing under the same tree with her lover. Sighing again, he set his shoulders and prepared for the worst his sisters could dish out.  



	4. Sibling Love

Large groups underneath the schools oak tree at lunch time were a common enough occurrence. However, for four blondes to be holding a confrontation, two of whom were known for their bubbly personalities, was _not_ common. But hey, this was Juuban so nobody paid them any attention. Stranger things had happened, _much_ stranger things.  
  
"A warning _would_ have been _nice_ 30." growled Minako, trying desperately to reign in her temper.  
  
The blonde in question shrugged his shoulders and tried his best to look innocent. "You live here, we _still_ haven't finished school. It seemed like a good idea at the time."  
  
The pilots turned as one and gave Quatre an odd look. Wufei snorted at the comment and shifted uncomfortably in his uniform.  
  
Duo shook his head, "Q, that has got to be one of the _worst_ explanations I've ever heard, and I've heard a few. Hell, most of 'em have come out of my mouth!". Wufei nodded his head in agreement. Duo mock glared and thwapped him one. "Oi! Be nice or you're not getting   
any!"  
  
Quatre just ignored the pair, well used to their antics. "By the way," he handed something small to each of the girls, "Here are your new student ID cards. I've changed your names back on the roles. I _was_ going to change your home address too but it seems like you've already   
done that."  
  
The other pilots winced. If Quatre was intent on self-destructing he was doing a better job than Heero ever had. The others didn't know whether to be impressed or worried.  
  
They were leaning heavily towards worried when Usagi glared at him, fire in her eyes, "You know 30, that's _really_ taking liberties!"  
  
"Even _I_ do not have that bad a timing Quatre." Wufei commented, Trowa nodded in agreement.  
  
"Oh, I don't know about that Wu," Duo had a mischievous look in his eyes, "What about that time in the hang.....mrmph". Wufei clamped a hand over Duo's mouth and whispered something in his ear. Duo's eyes lit up.  
  
Makoto and Ami quietly watched the drama unfold in front of them, confusion written all over their faces. Finally Ami spoke up, timidly asking the question that had been playing on their minds since the start of lunch. "Ano.....excuse me, but how do you know Usagi-chan?"  
  
Duo was, as per usual, the first in with a smart arsed remark. "Take a re-ally _close_ look. It's kinda obvious dont'cha think?".  
  
The girls looked between Usagi, Minako and Quatre in confusion. Usagi rolled her eyes. "My bratty little brother," Quatre hmph'd and Usagi glared at him, "has decided for us that we're to move in with him."  
  
"_Our_ bratty little brother." Minako added, arms crossed over her chest.  
  
Makoto frowned, confused look still evident on her face. "Shingo? Usagi, you _already_ live with Shingo, and as far as I know Mina-chan's _not_ related to him."  
  
Usagi pulled a face, "Neither am I, thank God!"  
  
Ami looked taken aback. "Usagi-chan, I know Shingo can be a pain, but he _is_ your little brother."  
  
Usagi smirked and glance quickly at Haruka, who gave a slight nod of permission. **I can tell, _good_, this is going to be _fun_**. "No seriously, Shingo never was, and never will be my blood relation. I'm not related to him, or any Tsukino's for that matter. Just as Minako is not related to the Aino's, they're our foster families."  
  
Haruka chose to join in the conversation. "Just as my name is not really Ten'ou Haruka. I believe re-introductions are in order. Boku wa Haruka Cybelle Raberba Winner. This," she pointed to Minako, "is my second youngest sister Minako Aphrodite Raberba Winner." she turned her gaze to Usagi and her smile became indulgent. "And _this_ is our youngest sister, and the baby girl of the family...."  
  
Usagi glared. "You just _love_ to rub that in don't you!"  
  
Haruka smirked. "As I was saying, this is our baby sister Usagi Serenity Raberba Winner."  
  
"Only by two months 'Ruka!" Usagi scowled for another couple of moments and continued the introductions. "This is our beloved little brother, the runt of the family - figuratively anyway - Quatre Raberba Winner. Father didn't inflict _him_ with a middle name."  
  
Minako crossed her arms, rolled her eyes, and sing-songed. "He's spe-cial."  
  
"Personally," Stated Quatre, feigning wounded pride, "I like to think that he ran out of ideas, there _were_ a lot before me you know."  
  
Usagi sighed dramatically. "Believe me I _know_"  
  
Ami had been following the conversation intently, as usual, and storing any useful information away for later use. "Aren't there thirty Winner offspring?"  
  
In response, the four siblings groaned and collapsed against each other, nodding their heads.  
  
Makoto peeked out from where she had been wisely hiding behind Trowa. She had learnt very early on to get well clear when Usagi was in a bad mood. "And you didn't tell us this _why_?"  
  
Trowa, for the most part, was quite happy to play the human shield for Makoto. He was more intent on watching to make sure his lover didn't get _too_ hurt.  
  
Usagi snorted and started glaring at her brother again. "Rashid had.....issues".  
  
"Rashid?" Ami asked, curious.  
  
"You'll figure it out once you meet him." Minako was trying hard to keep a straight face. **Let's just hope he doesn't decide the girls need protecting as well. That'd be _all_ we need**  
  
Heero was paying little attention to the conversation, his gaze was busy flickering between Makoto and Trowa.  
  
After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence and staring, Usagi decided she'd better introduce her brothers....friends. "These are Quatre's friends..."  
  
Ami interrupted, smug smirk out of place on her usually serene features, "The Gundam Pilots".  
  
Faster than the human eye could blink, Heero had his gun out and pointed at the girl. Barely half a second after _that_ the girls had formed a protective guard around Usagi.  
  
Usagi rolled her eyes at their overprotectiveness, crossed her arms and gave a disgusted humph, glaring at each girl in turn.  
  
While this was going on the boys convinced Heero to put his gun away _before_ anybody else noticed it. For a community that appeared to barely bat an eyelid at Youma, they certainly freaked out about projectile weapons.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye Wufei could have _sworn_ he saw Haruka slip a half drawn sword back into _no-where_.  
  
Usagi lent forward and delicately placed her hand on Ami's shoulder. "We don't talk about that, at least not out in the open." Turning to Quatre, or at least where Quatre _should_ be, she couldn't see over Makoto. Poking her head around the tall girl, she arched an eyebrow. "A little trigger happy, isn't he?".  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Heero continued to glare at Ami. The other girls rebounded from their shock of seeing a teenage boy pull a gun on them rather quickly. A little _too_ quickly as far as he was concerned. He filed that, along with the fact that the _non-pilot_ contingent of the group had formed a protective _gaurd_, something civilians should _not_ know how to do, around Usagi and not Ami, away in his mind for later. He also picked up on Usagi's annoyance with it, she wasn't surprised, which led him to believe that this wasn't unusual behaviour.  
  
He drew Ami off to the side of the group out of earshot, scowling. Noting the amused sparkle in her eyes, he scowled even more, causing Ami to choke back on a fit of giggles.  
  
**She knows more than a teenager should.** He thought, then mentally snorted. **Hell, so do I, but I'm no civilian; she is.** he looked directly into her eyes, tone and expression leaving no room for arguments. "We _will_ discuss security later".  
  
If it was at all possible, Ami's amused expression seemed to intensify, her eyes sparkling with surpressed laughter. Her reply was _not_ what he was expecting, causing him to almost reach for his gun again.  
  
"Sure Wing".  
  
As it was his gun arm twitched. Logging onto his mental database, he came up with an answer. It was unlikely, but it was one of the _only_ possible answers that fit; appearances had been known to be deceiving, just look at Quatre.  
  
"Acknowledged," he grunted while glancing at her speculatively, "......Calculus?".  
  
Ami, no Calculus, smirked at him. The were going to be having a _long_ talk very soon.  
  
The rest of the group didn't notice the private exchange, they were busy with their own discussions.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
-------  
  
Usagi pushed her way out of the protective circle scowling, hoping that nobody noticed what the girls had done. Mentally she sighed. **Yeah _right_. Dream on Usagi. Not _one_ of the five deadliest men in the United Earth Sphere Alliance noticed your _civilian_ friends get protective on your butt. I _wish_, they're bound to have noticed. I have _got_ to talk to the girls about doing that...._again_.**  
  
Makoto watched the boys _discuss_ the location of Heero's gun with him. She missed exactly _where_ he had holstered it. As the boys rejoined them she turned to her, more than slightly, peeved princess. "Ne Usa, you don't exactly seem....well, thrilled that your little brother is   
back in town."  
  
Usagi closed her eyes, rubbed her forehead and sighed tiredly. "Don't get me wrong Mako-chan, I love Q to bits but he's so _frustrating_. I mean seriously, we haven't heard from him in _ages_. We only get to see him on Vid telecasts, and for the longest time they were painting him and his friends as the big bad wolf. Then he comes to visit and DOESN'T TELL US!". She finished her statement and glared at Quatre who held up his hands in surrender.  
  
"I _apologised_ for that already. Don't look at me like I'm the bad guy. If you'd left the Manguanacs I left here _alone_ they would've been able to tell you where I was!".  
  
Makoto was glancing between the siblings, a lost look on her face. Ami, who had quietly rejoined the group, frowned.  
  
"Manguanacs?" they chorused.  
  
Usagi and Minako groaned while Quatre and Duo snickered.  
  
Minako motioned for everyone to sit. Glancing at her yellow watch to make sure there was enough time to explain, she began. "Our family, or is it Q? I can never remember. Anyway we have these over enthusiastic retainers. There's about 120 of them, dedicated to keeping us 'safe'".  
  
Makoto and Ami looked at her, jaws somewhere in the vicinity of their ankles. The were very relieved when Quatre moved in to correct his sister.  
  
"That's not true Mi-chan, there's only forty of them." For a second time Makoto and Ami went into shock.  
  
"Well it _seemed_ like 120, what do they do, _rotate_?.....Anyway, last time Q-chan visited he decided that we needed more protection than anonymity. So he decided to assign us two Manguanacs..._EACH_!!".  
  
Makoto scratched her head, "What's so bad about that?"  
  
Usagi gave her a meaningful look and scratched her ear with the arm that wore a pink watch, "Do you have _any_ idea how restricting it is to have two guys follow you around _everywhere_?"  
  
"oohhh...."The two replied, catching Usagi's hidden message.  
  
So did the pilots, but they couldn't figure out what the double meaning meant. They wouldn't figure it out for quite some time.  
  
Quatre looked at his sister, "Don't pretend to be so hard done by, you got rid of them in short order," He frowned slightly. "You know Binyamin and Farid aren't out of the hospital yet."  
  
His sisters turned as one and glared at him. "That was _not_ our _fault_!!" they both shouted.  
  
"We didn't _ask_ them to jump in front of a Youma." Heero opened his mouth but Usagi glared him down. "Don't you _dare_ start. We know your opinion on Youma very well thank _you_." At Ami's enquiring gaze she elaborated. "Heero doesn't believe in Youma. He told us quite succinctly on Saturday night."  
  
"Anyway," Minako tried to bring the conversation back on track. "About three weeks ago we finally got rid **ahem** sent the last of _our_ Manguanacs to protect our poor, under-defended brother."  
  
Usagi picked up from there. "Then the _baka_ here decides to show up, every _single_ Manguanac in tow. All that hard work down the drain. AIIEEEE!!!!".  
  
The two youngest Winner females jumped on their little brother again, intent on pounding him into the dirt. The didn't hurt him _too_ much, the didn't want an angry Rashid after them, they gave him just enough scrapes and bruises to remind him just _who_ was the eldest.  
  
Once they had finished, Ami reiterated some of the story to make she had all the facts straight. ".....And then he told you you were moving in with him?".  
  
Both girls scowled and nodded. Now that Makoto and Ami knew of the pairs relationship they were beginning to notice things that should have been obvious in the first place.  
  
Makoto frowned as something occurred to her. "You pair are older than him right?" At the pairs nod she continued. "So why didn't you just pull rank?" She asked, referring to the earlier display of pounding. "And why wasn't Haruka told to move in too?".  
  
Usagi looked decidedly disgruntled. "We would have, umm, 'pulled rank', only Q has Rashid backing him up on how _dangerous_ Juuban is, and now that the war is over blah blah blah blah _blah_!". She was _not_ a happy little Moon Princess.  
  
Minako nodded emphatically. "You do _not_ argue with Rashid," She frowned thoughtfully. "Well, I guess you _could_, but the results would be, umm, how do I put this...._interesting_."  
  
Ami was quickly deciding that she had to meet this Rashid. "What about Haruka?"  
  
The blonde in question smiled sweetly and spoke in a sugar coated voice, conveying more threat than anything else. '30 knows better, don't you 30."  
  
Quatre's eyes widened and he began nodding his head so fast Makoto thought it was going to fly off.  
  
Makoto nodded to herself. "Okay, I _think_ I've got it all. I just have one more question and I don't think you're going to like it."  
  
Everybody looked at her, trepidation evident on their faces.  
  
"Exactly _who_ is going to explain this to Rei?"  
  
The Senshi all groaned and hung their heads. They'd forgotten about Rei.  
  
The Gundam Pilots blinked.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------  
-------------  
  
The rest of the school day continued normally, for the most part. Usagi stayed awake for once, but there was a resigned expression on her usually cheerful face.  
  
Quatre was sporting a new set of bruises. Duo was alternating between taking notes and doodling on his notebook. All of his drawings looked suspiciously like Wufei.  
  
Wufei was sitting at his desk with his eyes shut. Haruna-sensei had made the mistake of thing that he was asleep. She had thrown a piece of chalk at him, without even opening his eyes he had caught it and placed it gently on his desk. Only then did he open his eyes, arching one   
aristocratic eyebrow in mild amusement.  
  
Trowa was stoically examining Quatre's profile from his desk, quietly making sure the blonde was all right after his encounter at lunch time. He stopped when Quatre flicked a note at him.  
  
//Trowa, I'm _fine_. I've had much worse. I don't even hurt. Stop _worrying_. Q.//  
  
Heero spent his lesson sending odd glances at Ami, while trying his best _not_ to kill Umino. It was getting increasingly hard not to. One good thing did come out of the boys babbling though, when he caught Heero looking at Ami, he'd given him a _very_ thorough profile on   
her....Only now, Umino had the wrong idea. Did _nothing_ phase this boy?!  
  
After the final bell the two groups met once again under the oak tree, calmly this time. As he approached, Duo pulled out a while handkerchief from somewhere and waved it, causing the girls to giggle.  
  
Quatre carefully broached the dreaded subject. "So, are you two ready to move in?" He was ready to bolt at any second. There were only so many beatings he could take per day. The worst thing about sisters was that he couldn't fight back.  
  
Minako nodded. "Yep! All a boxes n' stuff should already be over there."  
  
"All we have to do is pick up Luna and Artemis". Finished Usagi.  
  
Quatre looked at his sisters in trepidation. They were sporting identical grins that reminded him too much like Duo - just before you fell victim to one of his practical jokes.  
  
He had a bad feeling about this. "Please, don't tell me they're cats." He pleaded, turning his 'kicked puppy' look up to 100%.  
  
Makoto gave him an unreadable look. "They're cats. Why?"  
  
Quatre gave a heartfelt groan. Off to the side Usagi and Minako began snickering.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
If anybody wants to be notified when we update email us at mchan_sheechan@go.com  



	5. Welcoming Song!

Hidden Bloodline 5:   
  
WOW we've hit over 100 reviews Thank you to everyone who has reviewed!  
  
Now for a bad thing, it's lovely weather and the jacaranda's are flowering this means one thing for Shee-chan n I: Exams (duh duh duh duh) yes exams and then Summer holidays (don't you love Australia Christmas in summer complete with 40C heat and a broken air conditioner) the combination of these two will mean chapters will be slow in coming, not non existent we're gunna try and do as many outlines for chapters (and side stories) as possible before we leave and then conduct massacring by email. We thought we should let you all know that we aren't ditching the idea (we're having way too much fun for that ^_^!) we'll just be a bit slower than usual.  
  
We also have a mini alert system happening so if you'd like to know when we   
Update please send an email to: mchan_sheechan@go.com  
If ffn is playing silly buggers (and we all know it does) we might with enough persuasion send you the chapters as soon as they are ready - maybe before we get them up on ffn, we'll see.  
  
===============================================================  
  
Quatre looked at his sisters, misery clearly etched on his features and showing in his eyes. It seemed to be their goal in life to make his life miserable.  
  
Minako was giggling at her younger brothers' discomfort, "Q-chan doesn't like cats." It served the boy right. If he'd thought about it a bit more he would've remembered the two of them had cats. They'd _told_ him about them last time he had visited.  
  
Duo gave his friend a quizzical look; "I always pictured you as the fluffy animal type person Q. You know, always brining home strays." He grinned mischievously, "Hell, you brought Tro home!!"   
  
Trowa threw a half-hearted punch at Duo's head. Grinning he ducked it and counter-attacked. Wufei looked on, bemused expression on his face; if emotion could have been seen on Heero's face it would have been resignation.  
  
Quatre was glowering at his grinning sisters, mumbling under his breath and not looking amused at all.  
  
Usagi was enjoying tormenting Quatre as much as Minako was. *It serves him right. He forgets to call or write for months on end, not even a _card_ on our birthdays! We sent _him_ one. I'm gunna make him _squirm_!* "Say it louder!" she singsonged in an overly chirpy voice that promised even more future torment.  
  
"*Mumble mumble* _cats_ *mumbelmumble*."  
  
Duo looked around from the play fight he was still involved in with Trowa, who looked suspiciously like he was smiling - it was so hard to tell with that damn bang in the way. "Eh??"  
  
Usagi was staring her brother down. Not a single shred of sympathy was evident in her crystal blue eyes, "_You_ were the one who wanted us to move in, we had no choice. The cats and us come as a joint package." Dropping her voice to a mumble only slightly more audible than her brothers she added, "Unfortunately. I don't have a choice in _that_ either...stupid destiny."  
  
Only Heero appeared to catch this remark. He tilted his head slightly regarding her; you could almost see the wheels turning over in his head.  
  
Haruka decided to compound her little brothers' misery just that little bit more, she had a few years of torment to make up for, by adding in her two cents worth, "Go on, tell 'em _why_ you don't like the pweety widdle kitty-cats." She snickered as Quatre shot her a withering glare.  
  
He turned and glared at the group as a whole, his sisters were enjoying themselves _far_ too much so it was mainly aimed them, "I'm allergic to cats. _Okay_."  
  
The Gundam pilots took one look at the Zero system like gleam in his eyes and began backing away. Heero could be seen reaching for his gun again. Quatre's sisters however just rolled their eyes at his antics.  
  
Minako just glared right back at him, seemingly unperturbed by the look in his eyes. "Try again 30, we're all used to your temper. It doesn't work on us _remember_, we've got it too."  
  
The boys frowned in unison, but only Heero spoke up, "Temper?"  
  
Usagi looked delighted. She'd just discovered she had another piece of dirt on her baby brother. She began to bounce in place, chirping happily, "Mr. Grumpy, Mr. Grumpy!!"  
  
Quatre was busy looking for a place to hide. His sisters were being scary again.  
  
===============================================================  
SOMETIME LATER  
  
Two effervescent blondes bounced through the kitchen, seemingly unaware that they had two cats clinging to their shoulders for dear life. The glanced around and upon seeing the boys around the coffee making facilities - with various looks of expectation, Duo was staring at it in a rather disturbing manner and muttering the occasional 'cooooffffffeeeeee'. Wufei had his arm around his lover in a consoling manner - they bounced across the kitchen to join them. They then proceeded to place their cats between their brother's face and his coffee cup, causing him to begin sneezing immediately.   
  
The girls quickly moved their cats out of spraying distance. "Say hello to Luna and Artemis _properly_ Quatre or they'll think you don't love them." The look on Minako's face suggested that this was a _bad_ thing.  
  
Duo spoke up from where he was standing behind the girls and their sneezing brother, "What's with the moon connotations?"  
  
The girls tensed and began to giggle nervously. Thinking fast, Minako spun around and presented Artemis to Duo, "Because of their faces, see!!"  
  
Duo went cross-eyed to try and look at the cat shoved in his face. Taking Artemis out of her arms, he traced the crescent moon on his forehead, "Look at the cute little crescent moon!" he cooed, each word accented with a trace of the small marking. Artemis glared at the longhaired boy and batted the finger away from his forehead with a paw.   
  
"Hey! That's not very nice!"  
  
Minako chuckled and took Artemis back off him. The rest of the Gundam pilots laughed at cats' reaction. Trowa reached around Duo and scratched Artemis behind the ear, when Artemis didn't object Duo began to pout.  
  
Usagi looked at him and snorted, "Be thankful you didn't try that with Luna. She would've scratched you, and she scratches _hard_."  
  
Minako snickered at Usagi's comment, "And you'd know." At the boys' curious looks she explained what she meant. "Luna is Usagi's fourth alarm clock."  
  
Quatre rolled his eyes at this revelation but the rest of the boys frowned in confusion.  
  
"Fourth?" Trowa asked.  
  
Minako continued to giggle, "Yeah, she usually turns off three and then goes back to sleep."  
  
Trowa nodded his head in understanding, "So she's as hard to get up as Quatre is then." A slight smile was tugging at his lips.  
  
The other boys blinked and looked at him.  
  
Wufei quirked an eyebrow, smirked, and spoke up, "I didn't think you were one to kiss and tell Trowa."  
  
Duo grinned and leaned further across the middle bench, "Tell more!!"  
  
He began laughing hysterically when the three blondes started blushing profusely. Usagi and Minako hadn't quite decided if they really wanted to hear this much about their little brothers' love life.  
  
Before anybody took the chance to expound on his few remaining bad habits, Quatre stepped into the two girls line of sight, odd look on his face.  
  
Usagi looked at him and sighed melodramatically, "Uh-oh, I recognize that look."  
  
Minako looked and gulped, "Yeah. It's the same as fathers 'I'm going to tell you to do something, you're not going to like it, but it's for you own good' look. It's the one that comes with promises of pain if you don't smile, nod and agree to whatever is said."  
  
Usagi shuddered, "I remember him giving us one just like it before he told us he was going to foster us out."  
  
Quatre smiled slightly at the memories those words brought up but the stubborn look remained, "You pair have homework to do."  
  
They both groaned and Usagi began a counterattack, "So do you!"  
  
Quatre shook his head and smiled broadly, "We did ours already."  
  
Duo whimpered and slumped over the bench. That reaction alone was enough to prove Quatre's point correct, and to make the girls dread the upcoming task.  
  
The girls sighed. Shot down in flames before they had barely begun. "Now I know why they trained Q for strategy." Minako hissed out of the side of her mouth to Usagi.  
  
Quatre gave the girls their marching orders, "Go and do it. When you're finished we'll be in the pool. And do it _properly_."  
  
Quatre got quite a shock when Luna leaned over in Usagi's arms and butted her head against the accusing finger he had been pointing at the girls, purring softly. He looked puzzled, "What was that for?" he asked.  
  
Usagi ground out a reply through clenched teeth as she and Minako left the kitchen, a plate of biscuits in each hand, "You just made a friend Q. Luna thinks I need to study more."  
  
The girls had already left the room when the boys realized just what Usagi had said.  
  
"_Luna_ thinks?" Heero commented.  
  
===============================================================  
  
  
The group was having a discussion over dinner, with topics ranging from just what they thought of Juuban High, to exactly _why_ they had bothered to come back to school in the first place.   
  
The explanation for that particular topic had come from a rather disgruntled Wufei, "The baka onna won't employ us as 'official' Preventers until we've finished High school. She has no compunctions calling us in to risk our lives to save the world, but draws the line at granting us official status. Injustice!!"  
  
Minako and Usagi had shared a brief look over that and smirked.  
  
They were currently discussing the merits, and demerits, of various vehicles housed in the overly large carport that Duo and Wufei had explored earlier that afternoon.  
  
"Q there are two _gorgeous_ bikes in there but, I tell you, there are _no_ keys for them."  
  
Quatre looked up and arched an eyebrow, "Duo there are keys to _everything_ in there from the ride-on mower to the helicopter."  
  
Duo looked at him, "Not."  
  
Quatre looked back, "Is."  
  
Duo's tried to suppress a grin; this could be fun, "NOT!"  
  
"I…" Quatre caught himself and sighed deciding he didn't want to play this game right now, "Alright! I'll ask Ishmawil about it tomorrow. He'll know."  
  
Trowa looked over at Duo, "Why didn't you just hotwire them?"   
  
Wufei and Duo both looked slightly embarrassed.  
  
Wufei spoke up, disgruntled but with admiration tinting his voice, "We tried and couldn't."  
  
Heero, Usagi and Minako all looked towards them, albeit for different reasons.   
  
Heero gave them a disbelieving look; well as close to disbelieving as his face could get anyway, "You couldn't hotwire two bikes?"  
  
Unnoticed by anybody else, Usagi and Minako exchanged amused glances.  
  
Duo looked grudgingly impressed, "They have the best security system I've ever seen on something that small."  
  
Trowa and Heero exchanged glances and nodded. They had to see those bikes.  
  
Quatre noticed the look the pair had exchanged he had become rather adept at reading the silent communication those two used. He decided to put a stop to the impromptu mechanicing session before it had a chance to get started, "Tomorrow afternoon, Heero, Trowa, we have school in the morning, so bed now."  
  
Usagi and Minako rolled their eyes at their brother's command, snapping off crisp salutes with a jaunty, "Sir, yes, Sir," just to annoy him.  
  
It didn't work. He laughed at their antics as they walked to say goodnight to him and the other boys.   
  
As they were making their way over Usagi remembered to fill him in on their plans for the next day, "We're going to have a study session at Rei's, so if you come to her place 'round five we can give you the 50c tour of Juuban, K?"  
  
Quatre nodded, "That sounds fine. So we'll meet you at..."  
  
"Hikawa Jinja." Supplied Minako.  
  
"Hikawa Jinja at five then." Quatre suddenly found himself with two sisters hanging from his neck trying, and succeeding, to squeeze his breath out of him. He hugged them back, "Night you pair."  
  
"Nighty Q-tra!"  
  
"Luvs Ya Q!"  
  
Came the replies as they bounced out the door, headed upstairs. Quatre looked up as a shadow fell over him.  
  
Duo stood there, arms on his hips, and a funny grin on his face, "Q-tra?"  
  
Quatre just groaned.  
  
===============================================================  
Next morning  
  
Usagi heard the interconnecting door between her and Minako's rooms open but resolutely decided to ignore whoever it was. At this hour of the morning it could only be one person.  
  
"Good morning Miss Usagi, I brought your coffee."  
  
She was slightly tempted by the word 'coffee'. Her only response, however, was to open one bleary eye and roll over, pulling her blankets over her head.  
  
Fatima walked over to the bed and deftly flicked back the blankets from the girl in a manner that bespoke _lots_ of practice. She sighed when Usagi groaned and took refuge under her pillow after being denied her blankets.  
  
"Miss Usagi, if you do not get up this instant I shall have to call Captain Rashid, you know what he'll do!"  
  
Usagi sat bolt upright, eyes flickering around, trying to catch sight of a giant headed in her direction while mumbling "M'up!! M'up!!!"  
  
Chuckling quietly, Fatima waved a hand in front of Usagi's face to get her attention. That threat worked every time, on all the Winner siblings.   
  
She handed the dazed girl a large mug of steaming Arabian coffee, one of the few things guaranteed to get the girl half-coherent of a morning. While Usagi sat on the edge of her bed, gingerly sipping the hot beverage, Fatima got her school fuku out. "Breakfast is ready whenever you get downstairs, and yours and Miss Minako's bento's are packed and waiting in the kitchen."  
  
"Arigato gozaimasu **yawn** Fatima, we'll be down soon."  
  
Fatima smiled softly, nodded and left to let the girl get dressed.  
  
Usagi groaned once the woman was out of the room, "It's _too_ early for this!"  
  
Luna piped up from the bed where she was still napping, undisturbed by Fatima's earlier actions. She cracked open one eye to look at her charge, "I _like_ her. She can get you up in the morning and I can still sleep in!!"   
  
Luna closed her eye again, planning on going back to sleep when Usagi picked up one of her pillows and thwacked her with it. "It's not her who got me up. It's the thought of what Rashid will do if I don't get up when I'm told. Last time her threw me in the pool!"  
  
About 20 minutes later the connecting door opened again. This time Minako came through, fully dressed and holding the remains of a large cup of coffee. She smiled wanly at Usagi, "So you got the treatment too huh?"  
  
"Uggggg"  
  
"Yeah, thought so. You got your keys and bag?" at Usagi's nod she continued, "Let's take them downstairs before we eat breaky or Q'll have a fit."  
  
The two girls exchanged wicked grins that promised trouble for their little brother.  
  
===============================================================  
After breakfast  
  
Quatre checked his watch for the fifth time in as many seconds, "Where are those two? We'll be late if they don't hurry up."  
  
While they were waiting Duo and Wufei were looking around the garage again. Duo sighed in disappointment those bikes were gone.  
  
"Quatre-sama," one of the Manguanacs approached "The Miss Winner's have already left."   
  
Quatre sighed in exasperation, "Well they could have said"  
  
All the boys piled into the topless jeep that Duo had insisted on taking to school that day, and Trowa, being the only one of them with a _legal_ license, drove them to school.  
  
Arriving at school they all grabbed their bags and clambered out of the jeep, Duo not even bothering with a door. When he around his eyes fell on the two bikes he and Wufei had been drooling over the day before, "Hey Q-man, those are the bikes from your place!"  
  
Quatre looked at the bikes, and then looked at him, "Duo, how do you know."  
  
Wufei had joined Duo in his bike worship, "There," he pointed to a small symbol on one bike, "see that mark? That's how, they both have it."  
  
Quatre walked over and lent down to look at the symbol. A symbol he recognized. He stood up, eyes narrowed, "That's Haruka's signature," he ground out. He did not look happy.  
  
Tires squealed as a flash convertible pulled into a park on the other side of the bikes, the sister in question behind the wheel. Getting out of the car she smiled when she saw what they were looking at. After picking up her bag she sauntered over to the group, "So, whatcha think of these two Q?"  
  
Quatre looked at her, face expressionless, "You gave them _bikes_."  
  
Haruka smirked, "At least I remembered their birthdays."  
  
That shot hit its mark. Quatre winced slightly but he wasn't going to be put out, "You. Gave. Them. Bikes."  
  
Haruka rolled her eyes, "Oh please Q! They are custom built, hell I designed them. They both know perfectly well how to handle them, you should know that! Do you think I'd put them in danger them anymore than you would? If I had had it my way I would've given them a helicopter each, it was one of the alternatives."  
  
Michiru smiled softly at the memory. It had taken the better part of three weeks to convince Haruka that her sisters really _didn't_ need a helicopter each for their seventeenth birthdays, even if the could pilot them. "She was going to give them the helicopters but Setsuna and I convinced her that they could wait until they were eighteen."  
  
Haruka frowned, "I still think it would have made a more interesting present. I mean they already… **mrmph**mrmph**." She was cut off by Michiru's hand and nodded her head in understanding when she saw her lover shaking hers.  
  
Quatre decided he really didn't need to know about that but one thing was still bothering him, "They were both wearing _fukus_ this morning at breakfast!"  
  
Haruka waved this comment off, "Oh don't worry, they have a perfectly good set of leathers each. I'm sure they changed before they left for school."  
  
She started laughing as her brother turned bright red and began spluttering.  
  
===============================================================  
  
School was the run of the mill boredom; there wasn't even a youma attack to give the students a period off. Haruna-sensei, however, had nearly fainted when Usagi was on time again _and_ handed in her homework _completed_.  
  
Once school was finished Minako and Usagi changed back into their leathers, much to the appreciation of some of the male population and displeasure of their brother. After shooing the multitude of drooling admirers away from their bikes, and ignoring the glare Quatre was burning into their backs, they rode home and walked over to the Hikawa Jinja where all the inner senshi had gathered for moral support while the two sisters told their story to Rei.  
  
All in all Rei took the explanation rather well... after they woke her up--  
  
"_WHAT!!!!!_"  
  
--and calmed her down with a couple of gallons of tea.  
  
Rei looked between the pair and placed her teacup carefully back on the table. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers, "Okay. I can see the resemblance, I always wondered about that, and I understand the need for secrecy and stuff for your protection. Just one question:" She took a deep breath and the girls braced themselves, "Why the _hell_ didn't you pair warn us that Haruka was a girl when she first arrived!?"  
  
Makoto and Ami looked at Rei bewildered. This wasn't quite the reaction they were expecting… and why hadn't they warned them? The three turned as one and stared fixedly at the two. They were both blushing brightly and looking _very_ embarrassed. They started twiddling their fingers and trying to avoid _everyone's_ gaze.  
  
Luna spoke up, "Well Usagi?"  
  
Usagi hung her head, "Man this is embarrassing," she muttered before taking a deep breath and beginning progressively getting redder as she continued. "'Ruka was laughing _so_ hard at us all that time, mainly at me and Mi. I mean she looked so different to last time we saw her but she recognized us nearly straight off. She'd left home just before we were sent away."  
  
Rei rolled her eyes, she was quickly loosing her patience, "Usagi no baka she's still your sister!"  
  
Usagi glared back at Rei, "Oh yeah? Would you recognize your favorite sister, who had sandy blonde hair to her _butt_ and _always_ wore dresses, if she showed up a year and a half after she vanished off the face of the earth and almost eight or so years after you last saw her, looking for all the world like a boy?!" she shot back.  
  
The rest of the inner senshi, and the guardian cats, could feel themselves going into shock.  
  
Makoto gaped at the glaring girl, "Haruka, Sailor Uranus, had long hair..." she began   
  
Rei finished for her, "…and wore dresses?!"  
  
The blondes nodded in unison, "Uh-huh."  
  
Rei was feeling rather shell-shocked, but, then again, she'd been feeling that way for most of the afternoon. She poured herself another cup of tea, vowing to blame Usagi when she had to get up and go to the toilet five times in the night. "Ooookay. Um. Does your brother know about our, your.... extra curricular activities?"  
  
Usagi and Minako looked at each other and then looked Rei. It was the sort of lookthat made her feel like she had grown another head and told them she was redirecting her worship to Metallia, "You've _got_ to be kidding!!" they exclaimed.  
  
Usagi continued when Rei raised an eyebrow, "Think of Kenji-papa and the multiply it by fifty and you might be getting close to the mark. He'd kill the pair of us for 'endangering' ourselves!"  
  
Minako leaned forward, "You should have seen the confrontation he had with 'Ruka this morning over our bikes. The moment the we got home the Manguanacs were all over them checking them out!"  
  
Usagi groaned, "Manguanacs again! They were bad enough the first time around. Don't be surprised if it takes us a bit to get away if there's an attack. If Q isn't watching us you can guarantee Rashid or a Manguanac or forty will be."  
  
Minako sighed, "They're a little overprotective."  
  
Usagi gave an unladylike snort at this understatement.  
  
"We should be fine," Artemis spoke up from beside Luna, "The youma aren't that strong and if there's trouble, major trouble, we'll work it out."  
  
Rei started making a comment on how they would do fine without Odango Atama anyway when a sound from outside made her stop. Phobos and Deimos had broken into a welcoming song. She smiled broadly, there was only one person she knew of who could get that reaction out of her familiars, "So he's finally decided to come back and visit huh? About time," she paused for a moment and frowned slightly, "He owes me two manga as well."  
  
She stood and walked outside. The rest of the girls followed curious about who Rei's guest was.  
  
  
Quatre was relieved, it had been a pain free day so far. The confrontation with Haruka over the motorbikes had been the only family domestic. No name calling or 'let's see how much we can torment Q-tra' damage. He hated that nickname.  
  
There had been a few tense moments during roll call. Haruna-sensei had noticed Minako's name missing off the top of the role immediately and had raise an eyebrow. When Usagi's name was also gone but the two girls were sitting in front of her the other eyebrow had also been raised. Her reaction when she finally found the new location of their names had been amusing though -  
  
"You're WINNERS!!!!!!!!!!"  
  
--and loud. He really thought the pair were going to slide under their desks, the were that far down in their seats.  
  
And then there was lunch hour - and the countless student trying to find out why the pair hadn't told anyone. Surprisingly Umino hadn't been heading the pack.  
  
  
Quatre looked at the bikes. He shouldn't have been surprised really, *Hell, I should be grateful she didn't build them a mobile suit each and send them to 'help' me. Wouldn't that have been fun, trying to explain _how_ they knew how to build _and_ and pilot a mobile suit as well as me. Between the three of them they could probably build something close to a Gundam.* He shuddered though whether that was from the thought of them building, or piloting, or both, he wasn't sure.  
  
They'd finished their homework and had examined both bikes in minute detail. They were ready to go and get the girls and go on a tour of Juuban. There was just one slight snag.  
  
"Ummm, does anyone know where the Hikawa Jinja is??"  
  
The boys looked at Quatre in disbelief, at least he had the decency to look sheepish. He had forgotten to get directions.   
  
Wufei snorted and headed off. The rest of the boys looked at each other, shrugged and followed him, hoping they were at least heading in the right direction.  
  
They had been, though exactly how Wufei knew where he was going was a mystery.  
  
Looking up at the stairs, Duo moaned, "Ah man!!!"  
  
Quatre could only blink, "Usagi says she runs up these all the time." He stated in a disbelieving tone.  
  
They were almost to the top of the stairs when two crows broke into a song. Unseen by anyone behind him Wufei grinned.  
  
As they reached the top and started towards the shrine itself a shrine maiden emerged followed by Quatre's sisters and their friends.  
  
She was smiling broadly, "So Scholar, you finally decided to visit. Nice to see your not bleeding everywhere this time."  
  
Wufei bowed slightly in return as a large crow landed on his shoulder, its twin flew over to rest on the shrine maidens' outstretched arm. 


	6. You Were _Warned_ Heero!.

Hidden Bloodlines Part 6: You Were _Warned_ Heero!   
  
Does anyone know the name of Motoki's sister? We know it's Lizzie in the dub, but we don't have a clue to her Japanese name.   
  
And did we spell Yuuichiro right? Or is it meant to be Yuuchiro?   
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
This is an actual conversation in my home on Saturday night.   
  
Sheena and Megan are sitting on the lounge room floor playing snap. We couldn't think of anything else to play with two people. Megan has Gundam cards so it's all good.   
  
Sheena: [Grabs tea mug] Just let me take a fortifying sip.   
  
[Megan and Mrs. T. (Sheena's Mum) look at her funny]   
  
Megan: Sheena, we're playing snap, and you're drinking _tea_.   
  
Sheena: So? You keep beating me!   
  
Megan: You keep cheating!   
  
Sheena: No I don't. If I was, I'd be winning.   
  
Megan: Okay, cheating _badly_.   
  
Sheena: I didn't think you'd notice   
  
Megan: Believe me I'd noticed.   
  
Sheena: [pouts and takes another sip].   
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
A semi-stunned silence enshrouded the temple yard. Eyes were bouncing between the shrine maiden and Wufei in confusion. A similar thought was running through the heads of most of the people present, **What the _hell_?!**   
  
Duo grinned as he realized just _who_ it was standing in front of him. He remembered Wufei mentioning a safe-house he had stayed at once, when he had been seriously injured, and the temperamental shrine maiden that occupied it. **I didn't know she lived in Juuban, 'Fei never told me that! All he said was this was a good place to stay.......bar the occasional odd occurrence**. He made a mental note to talk to his lover about forgetting to mention that little fact later. Right now he had more important things to do.   
  
Rei suddenly found herself the unwilling participant of an over enthusiastic glomp. The only thing she could compare it to was one of Usagi's when she realised they were alive.....again.   
  
Just when air supply was becoming an issue, she found herself released as quickly as she had been engulfed. She warily looked at the braided figure in front of her, there was something about him that was niggling in the back of her mind.   
  
Duo bowed deeply and spoke in the most formal tone he could muster, "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the care you took of Wufei".   
  
Everyone was looking at the three open-mouthed. What the _hell_ was going on?   
  
After his uncharacteristic display of sobriety, Duo then proceeded to glomp onto the girl again.   
  
After struggling to get the boys arms into a position where she could breathe Rei looked around him at Wufei, she had a fair idea who the barnacle was, "I'm just taking a wild guess here, but this wouldn't happen to be Duo would it?" Her tone was only mildly sarcastic.   
  
Heero twitched slightly. Out of the corner of his eye something white was flickering. He almost obeyed his automatic response of _shoot it!_ , but stopped himself. It was just an old man.... in a bed sheet....nothing unusual at all.   
  
The figure landed perfectly in front of a smirking Wufei with a move that could put Trowa to shame. The girls, and Duo - Heero made a mental not to ask him about that later -, were openly grinning. Well, with the exception of the shrine maiden. "Grandpa, I just _did_ the laundry!"   
  
Another figure, also dressed in a bed sheet, came careening around the corner of the shrine. He skidded to a halt in front of the group, shaggy hair obscuring both of his eyes.   
  
**Okay, forget Trowa's hair**, Duo thought to himself, **How the heck does this guy _see_?**   
  
"Oh Hey! We've got visitors!" he bowed, looking rather incongruous with the bed sheet flapping in the breeze behind him. "Welcome to Hikawa Jinja," as though feeling the heat of the glare Rei was burning into his back, he glanced over his shoulder, "Oh, hi Rei." He muttered absently, waving a leisurely hand over his shoulder.   
  
Rei groaned in exasperation, "Shut _up_ Yuuichiro!"   
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
Wufei smiled as the elderly shrine keeper landed in front of him, a bed sheet tied around his shoulders as a cape. Grandpa Hino radiated more energy than Usagi and Duo combined on a sugar and caffeine high.   
  
"Chang!!! You're back to complete you're training then?"   
  
...... "Shut _up_ Yuuichiro!" ......   
  
Wufei bowed his head to hide the slight blush tinting his cheeks, "Thank you Grandpa Hino, but I shall decline". The man's ideas of training were slightly odd, not to mention rather embarrassing.   
  
...... "They're _friends_ Yuuichiro, not guests!" ......   
  
Duo raised an eyebrow and looked speculatively between a blushing Wufei and the shrine keeper. An amused grin began tugging at his lips, "You got to run around in _bed sheets_?! How come I didn't get to see that?". Silently he wondered ** I hope someone has photos of that!**   
  
Rei's shriek saved him from responding. He looked up to see the shrine maiden chasing Yuuichiro and Usagi, wildly swinging a broom behind them. All of the girls had hung their heads in resignation, Rei was at it again. The boys were all wearing looks of startled disbelief.   
  
Wufei groaned, "I see she still has the broom from hell".   
  
Grandpa Hino nodded, "Yep. No matter how hard we try and hide it she always finds it again".   
  
The shrieking had become coherent again. At first Wufei had thought Yuuichiro had offered to sing, but that was not the case. Usagi was apparently the target of her fury, Yuuichiro was just in the wrong place at the wrong time....again.   
  
"YOU FORGOT TO MENTION THAT YOUR BROTHER WAS A GUNDAM PILOT!!!!!!!!"   
  
Heero twitched again.   
  
Minako and Makoto had come to the agreement that Rei needed to calm down; she was going to burst a blood vessel _again_ if she didn't. They waited until their fleeing princess passed them for the second time and went for a tackle that somehow ended up involving all the girls. Shrieks of pain were heard from the ensuing pileup.   
  
"Damn Ami, you have sharp elbows!!"   
  
"And you have a bony butt! Get off, please."   
  
"Ahhhh.....my _HAIR_!!".   
  
"Well cut it!"   
  
"You first!"   
  
"Bite me!"   
  
"Where?"   
  
"Ooooww! That hurt! I didn't mean it _literally_!"[1]   
  
Quatre sighed, "This is like having _all_ my sisters at home at the one time.... Except I'm usually at the bottom of the dog-pile."   
  
"Mina!!!! You don't need to wear heels all the time and I SURE AS HELL DON'T NEED THEM IN MY FACE!!!!!"   
  
"_OW_!! That was my _hand_ damn it!"   
  
"Get _off_ Odango Atama!!"   
  
The group on the ground went completely silent. Usagi quickly disentangled herself from the large tangle of limbs and stalked into the shrine, her face a blank mask.   
  
The girls all began banging their heads on the ground. Reaching over the rest of the girls, Makoto thwapped Rei on the back of the head.   
  
Rei looked up, a rueful expression on her features, "I know, I know. Rei no baka!"   
  
The boys were torn in two directions, watching the display in front of them, or watch Trowa hover over Quatre -who was currently clutching his chest muttering, "Owie, owie, _OWIE!_"   
  
Minako looked over and swore in a most unladylike manner, "Ahh, you okay Q? I guess I should've warned you to shield for that one". She grimaced and rubbed hear head, oddly enough _not_ where she had been banging it on the ground.   
  
Quatre pinned her with a steely gaze, "Exactly _what_ was that about? It hurt her a _lot_." He turned his gaze to the group as a whole.   
  
The girls made a collective mental note: Do _not_ do anything to Usagi in front of her brother; it equals pain.   
  
Ami growled. She was disgusted that _anything_ could cause her friend pain. "That's what Mamo-_baka_ calls her".   
  
Quatre looked over the groups collective expression, he got the impression they _really_ wanted to spit on whoever it was, as well as cause grievous bodily harm. He didn't like this one bit, "_Who_ is Mamo-baka? And why do I get the feeling I should be breaking his kneecaps, castrating him, pulling his heart out with a spoon, and feeding it to him piece by piece?"   
  
Makoto looked delighted by the description. It might _just_ begin their revenge for his hurting _their_ Usa-chan, "Oh, oh, can I help?" She begged, bouncing.   
  
Minako snorted, "We'll _all_ gladly help". She said as she levered herself off the ground and walked towards the shrine. Moments later she returned with a bouncing Usagi in tow.   
  
The girls looked at her in confusion. Minako just shrugged noncommittally. "We're taking them", she pointed to the boys, "On a tour of Juuban right?" The girls all nodded, "No tour of Juuban is complete without seeing Crown Arcade right?" again she got nods. "And at Crown there is...."   
  
Usagi interrupted her sister, though most of the girls knew what was coming, "ICE-CREAM!!! Let's go, let's go. Oh right", she stopped and looked at the group, thoughtful look on her face. "I forgot who knows who. Okay.... Chang Wufei and Duo Maxwell, Rei Hino, Makoto Kino", She was just pointing to people in the group at random, "Ami Mizuno, Heero Yui, Minako Aphrodite Raberba Winner...."   
  
Minako blew a raspberry at Usagi, retaliating with the rest of the introductions. "Usagi Serenity Raberba Winner, Quatre Raberba Winner and Trowa Barton. I think that's everyone".   
  
Makoto was giving Trowa an odd look. She muttered half to herself as she walked past him, "You don't _look_ like Trowa Barton, I could've _sworn_ he was blonde".   
  
The group headed down the stairs. Their destination: Crown Arcade.   
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
Normally it wasn't a long walk from Hikawa Jinja to the Crown Arcade, but they were taking the scenic route to show the boys the sights. They had, however, received some strange looks when they avoided any mentions of the airport, Tokyo Tower, and the docks. They had also avoided the ruins of what was once Mugen Academy, as well as other random sites around the district.   
  
They weren't far from the arcade, which was probably a good thing - Usagi's whining was beginning to get on some of the peoples nerves. It hadn't helped when Duo had joined in as well.   
  
A familiar sound was heard, at least it was familiar to the girls. It was a scream with that 'I'm-being-attacked-by-a-Youma' quality about it.   
  
The boys turned, with every intention of telling the girls to stay where they were, only to see them run past them _towards_ where the scream had been heard. After looking at each other to confirm that, yes, they did just do what they thought they had done, they took off hot on their heels.   
  
The skidded around the corner and stopped dead, jaws agape. _SOMETHING_ was attacking a girl of about 14. It was big, it was green, and it was _ugly_!.   
  
Only Duo and Wufei were able to identify what the thing was, "Youma".   
  
Heero quickly drew his guy. _That_ was a Youma?! Hearing them described, and actually seeing one in person were two completely different things. Lining up a shot as far from the victim as possible, he squeezed off a couple of rounds.   
  
Usagi looked at him disgusted, "Again with the gun". She snorted, "I tell you it won't do any good. All it will do is attract its' attention. In this neighbourhood that's what classes as a _bad_ thing. Leave this to the Sailor Senshi".   
  
As if to prove Usagi's point, the Youma had begun to turn in their direction. Its' mind was changed however, when a shout came from the building down the street.   
  
"STOP RIGHT THERE!!".   
  
Almost all the attention of the streets occupants was directed to the two figures standing on a shop balcony. "You've ruined the peace of this beautiful place. People come here for rest, relaxation, and to spend money, but you have prevented that!".   
  
The boys gaped at the figures in astonishment. They were female, _very_ female, wearing some of the strangest outfits they'd ever seen. The body of the outfit was a tight white bodice. A _very_ short, two-layered skirt was attached to the bodice, the bottom layer was white while the top layer was the same colour as the sailor collar on the outfit. At the back was a white bow, with two long ribbons trailing to their knees. The front had a bow in the *~ahem~* chest region, also the same colour as their collar. They wore knee high white boots with a 'v' shaped strip of colour at the top these were also the same colour as the other parts of the outfit, they were beginning to notice a trend here, and white elbow length gloves trimmed in the same colour scheme finished off the outfit. Strange symbols adorned their foreheads. All in all they were.... interesting outfits.   
  
Heero voiced the collective thoughts of the Gundam pilots, "Are they _INSANE_?".   
  
Quatre was watching the two posing Senshi with amused interest when he spotted two blonde blurs out of the corner of his eye, running in the direction of the Youma! He turned his head slowly, dreading what he might see. His worst suspicions were confirmed, crouching behind the big, ugly, _dangerous_ monster, were his two youngest older sisters.   
  
Quatre's mouth opened and closed as his mind raced around in circles trying to decide what to do. **Yell at them? _Yes_, what they're doing is _STUPID_..... NO!!!! That _thing_ will turn around and shish-ka-bob them. Get out of there you pair NOW!!! Yell, _yes_, _no_, _yes_, _NOOOO_!!!** As his mind was racing he started to hit Trowa in the side with his elbow, all the while making strange whimpering sounds.   
  
Trowa turned to look at him curiously and motioned for him to take a deep breath. Upon exhaling he managed to hiss, "Trowa, _what_ the _hell_ do they think they're _doing_?" He motioned to where his sisters were currently located.   
  
Trowa looked over to where the girls were and shrugged his shoulders - he was more concerned by the lovely shade of purple his lover was turning. Then what he had actually seen sunk in and he glanced sharply back to where the girls were, concern evident in his eyes.   
  
Quatre crossed his arms and scowled, "_Exactly_".   
  
The two sisters were now dragging the victim back to their group as fast as they could. Usagi grabbed Ami by the arm and pulled her down to look at the unconscious girl. Upon seeing her brother ready to let loose with a tirade, she held up a finger and calmly stated, "In a minute Q-tra".   
  
Quatre began to sputter again at the use of the hated nickname.   
  
The two Sailor Senshi had finally decided to wrap up their speech, "....In the name of Neptune,"   
  
"And in the name of Uranus...."   
  
"We'll punish you!!" Was cried in stereo. The fight between the Youma and the Senshi was on.   
  
Taking two steps away from the rest of the group, Heero and Duo bought up their guns. Their intentions had been to help the Sailor Senshi but, before they had a chance, a low powered 'World Shaking' threw them out of the way, covering them with dust.   
  
The Sailor Senshi in the greenish skirt turned to them, "Guns do no good. We don't need civilians getting in the way and getting hurt".   
  
Duo stood up and brushed the dirt off of himself, "Territorial neh?"   
  
Heero merely grunted a reply.   
  
Quatre whirled on Usagi and Minako, and, after checking them over to make sure they were okay, asked in a dangerously low voice, "_What_ did you two think you were doing?"   
  
Minako looked up scornfully at her enraged little brother, "What do you think those speeches were for? _Show_?"   
  
Usagi didn't bother to look up from her methodological healing of the Youma victim, "The Sailor Senshi distract the Youma and whoever is around gets the injured out of the way before the fight starts".   
  
Minako nodded her head in agreement, "It's one of the unwritten laws of Juuban: Sailor Senshi distract Youma, civilians grab victim, civilians run like hell, Youma goes bye-bye!"   
  
All the pilots turned from the Youma fight to hear the last of Minako's statement. It was then they noticed the pale silver glow surrounding Usagi. As they watched, the graze on the young girls head from where she had hit the pavement healed.   
  
"Nande....?" Wufei muttered.   
  
Quatre looked at the stunned expressions on his fellow pilots faces and almost laughed. "I'm not the only Winner with.... special abilities," he said with a smile.   
  
An unearthly shriek was heard from behind them. The group spun around in time to see the Youma explode into motes of light and dust.   
  
Duo smirked, "Don't leave much do they?".   
  
One of the Senshi walked towards the group, Uranus if they remembered her introduction properly. As she passed Quatre she stopped and looked at him for a couple of moments then patted him on the head. She nodded to Heero and Duo in acknowledgement of their attempt to help, then knelt down beside the victim to converse quietly with Usagi and Minako. She then stood and turned to leave. As she passed Quatre she patted him on the head again, this time she was snickering softly to herself. She walked over to her partner and the pair effortlessly jumped onto the top of the building and away.   
  
Duo watched them leave and then shook his head, "Interesting outfits", he commented as he began to snicker.   
  
The girls glared at him. "It's a good thing you said that _after_ Uranus left." Spoke Makoto in a slightly chilly tone.   
  
Duo looked confused, "Why is that?"   
  
Rei smirked and snickered softly. "She has a sword. Say that around her and you would've found out just _how_ well she knows how to use it!".   
  
Quatre sighed as he looked over to where Usagi was sitting with the Youma's victim, "I guess we had better head over to that arcade now."   
  
Trowa looked at him quizzically.   
  
Quatre gestured in the general direction of his youngest older sister, "After healing she'll _definitely_ be craving a sugar boost".   
  
Usagi looked up at her brother, slightly dazed, "You're buying ice-cream Q?" He nodded, "Yatta! Let's go!".   
  
She took off down the street, Minako's hand grasped in hers.   
  
Heero looked at her retreating back and then at Quatre, "Are you _sure_ she needs more sugar?".   
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
"Hey Motoki!", Minako chirped as she and Usagi bounced through the doors to Crown Arcade, "Can we jam some tables together? There's a few more of us than usual".   
  
Motoki looked over the crowd following the pair in. "Sure Mina-ch...ko, go right ahead. Lizzie is behind the ice cream bar, so she can take your orders. I'm guessing you came here for ice cream yeah?" All the girls gave him a steady look and he laughed, "Yeah. So.... who're your friends? I recognise some of the faces but as of yet I have no names".   
  
Minako giggled and took a deep breath in, "Okay....We have Duo there with the long hair and his boy Wufei. That's Heero, and you probably recognise Trowa from when he was in here last week destroying all of our top scores. Then last and least" This miss-statement was _not_ an accident, "We have this boy Quatre. He just happens to be mine, Usa's 'n 'Ruka's little brother!".   
  
Motoki looked slightly dazed, she giggled again. "Don't worry about it." She pointed randomly around the group, "Duo, Wufei, Heero, Quatre and Trowa. See, easy!".   
  
Makoto had been looking at Trowa on and off for most of the afternoon. At the present time she was looking at his side profile. Sudden recognition flashed through her eyes. As the boys sat down she touched Trowa on the arm, "I recognise you now, you're Nanashi!" She nodded to herself, pleased at solving the mystery, then walked off to order the ice cream - totally oblivious to the dumbfounded looks the group was burning into her back.   
  
Heero turned to Trowa, "How does she know you?" He demanded.   
  
Trowa looked slightly confused, "I don't know. She reminds me of _someone_ but I can't think who or where".   
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
[1] M: I have a friend at home who has a biting fetish, you go 'Bite me' and she will. Also sometimes she'll just go 'I want to bite something' and if that something that happens to be you watch out (You know who you are BJ) unfortunately she also passed the habit on to my   
little sister -_-!


	7. Cat in the Basket

Both: [Bounce in singing] I am the very model of a modern Major General.  
  
Sheena: I am the very bottle of a Perrier that's mineral!  
  
Megan: That bit goes at the end!  
  
Sheena: [Pouts] Well I couldn't remember the Sir Jo bit!  
  
Megan: Yes, we both went to Pirates of Penzance last weekend. That's part of the reason this part took so long to come out.  
  
Both: [Singing again and waving swords around over their heads] With cat like tread **THUMP** upon our prey we steal. In silence tread **BANG** our cautious way we feel. No sound at all **SHHH** we never speak a word. Our flys foot fall would be distinctly heard.  
  
[Start swinging swords around again] **CRASH** [Pair look at eachother]  
  
Sheena: Oops.  
  
Megan: I didn't think there was anything breakable in here.  
  
Sheena: There was something.....now there's not.  
  
Megan: I'll find what it was later, my room's not _that_ big!.  
  
Sheena: [Leaps up onto the bed] Wait a minute! This is very important. We haven't _finished_ _yet_! We still have some very important dialogue to get through.......[Pauses dramatically]  
  
[Megan thwaps Sheena on the back of the head. Sheena falls off the bed]  
  
Sheena: **THUMP** [dazedly from the floor] away..........  
  
Megan: Well I guess we'd better give you the fic since it's taken so long to get out. I'll just go wake Shee-chan...I think I hit her too hard.  
  
Sheena: @_@  
  
[Megan wakes Sheena up]  
  
Sheena: What hit meeeeeee?.  
  
Megan: A loose cannon ball.[snickers]  
  
Sheena: [Looks down] Who took my purple pants?  
  
Megan: [hides pants in her cupboard] Mine now.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Trowa watched as the tall girl, Makoto, made her way to the ice-cream bar. He just _knew_ there was something about her. Something that niggled at the back of his mind. He just couldn't put his finger on it and it was beginning to get on his nerves.   
  
She placed their order, well the boys at least - she hadn't even bothered to ask the girls what they wanted, she didn't seem to have a problem ordering for them though so this trip must be a common occurrence.  
  
As Trowa watched Makoto place the orders, a tall, beefy male strutted up to the girl, _very_ full of self-importance. He lent on the counter beside Makoto and made a comment. Trowa didn't hear what he said to her, but from the way Makoto and the redhead taking the orders reacted whatever it was it must not have been very nice.   
  
The tall girl whirled and glared at the offending male. Then, almost faster than he could see, she swung her fist at him, pulling the punch just before it slammed into his nose. She smirked at the outraged expression on his face and dropped into a ready stance. Her whole pose just screamed 'bring it on', but for some reason the jock didn't seem interested.  
  
Trowa frowned as old memories resurfaced. The whole stance and attitude was eerily familiar, despite the fact he hadn't seen it since working on HeavyArms before Operation: Meteor. He shook his head slightly in bewilderment, **I can't believe it's her. I'm sure Doctor S said nothing had been heard from her since the accident. **   
  
Trowa gave a broad smirk; things certainly had been quiet around the base after she'd disappeared. At one particular memory his smirk changed into a laugh. It was a classic, Trowa Barton flying backwards, feet over his head, clutching his face and howling like there was no tomorrow.  
  
Everybody at the table stopped what they were doing. The boys exchanged quick looks determining that, yes it was Trowa sitting there and, yes he was laughing his head off for no particular reason. Even the girls were giving him strange looks; he really didn't seem like the type that would kill himself laughing at the drop of a hat.  
  
They were all perplexed, Trowa rarely laughed, and nobody had said anything that was even _remotely_ funny.  
  
"What's so funny?" Duo was more than curious about what could make the banged wonder laugh. Hell, he'd been trying for most of the war and the best _he'd_ got had been smiles and mirth filled green eyes. Yet here Trowa was giving an honest to goodness belly laugh for no reason that Duo could ascertain. And if there was a reason Duo wanted in on the joke.  
  
Getting his laughter mostly under control, Trowa glanced back at Makoto, who was walking back across the room with a tray of ice cream, before replying, his one visible green eye twinkling with barely contained amusement, "She's the one who kept decking Trowa Barton!"   
  
He shook his head slightly. He still couldn't believe he hadn't at least recognised her name. She had changed quite a bit physically, but her name was still the same.... then again, she'd only ever really been referred to as either Makoto or Mako.  
  
Duo blinked at him owlishly, "She kept decking you?" his head swivelled between Trowa and Makoto, confusion evident on his face with a look as if to say 'and you didn't remember her?' "_Why_ are you referring yourself in the third person?"  
  
Trowa laughed again and shook his head once more, "No, the _original_ Trowa Barton," he explained "The first pilot of HeavyArms."  
  
From behind him came a derisive snort; a tray clashed down on the table in front of him. "The only reason that _baka_ was chosen," Makoto ground out as she began placing ice-creams in front of people with just a _little_ bit more force than was really necessary, "Was because _I_ couldn't interface properly! _Bakayarou_!" The last comment was spoken as a hissing growl, a particularly _dangerous_ look accompanying it.  
  
Trowa hid a smile behind a spoonful of ice cream. The pair had _never_ got along very well, much to the amusement of everybody around them. Makoto had been slightly smaller back then, not much though, and had taken great delight in taking down the egotistical Barton every chance she got. It was usually by knockout - though she had been known to pull pranks on the older man as well. He shuddered, he _still_ didn't know how she'd managed to get that highly poisoness spider into the mans room, let alone into his bed. It had been discovered later that that particular breed wasn't found _anywhere_ on the colonies.  
  
Everyone blinked and looked at Makoto, not quite sure if they'd heard her correctly. The girl paled as she realized just _what_ she had said. She began to dissemble, trying to look innocent, but the damage had already been done.  
  
Usagi merely grinned at her tall friend, "So you were trained as well?"  
  
Makoto nodded, dazed.   
  
"Sugoi! And you had that same problem too? Glowy thing?" At Makoto's second dazed nod Usagi grinned, "Ha!! I thought it was just me, 'Ruka and Mi!"  
  
Heero slowly turned his stare from Makoto to Usagi, who had returned to downing her ice cream with gusto, "Same problem...?" He was not hearing this, somebody please tell him he was not hearing this.  
  
Usagi looked up from her ice-cream, grinning sheepishly, and gave a nervous giggle, "Oh....er, did I say that? I didn't say anything, did I? Hehehehe....umm....oops. Ooookay, I'll jus shut up now." The last comment was directed into her ice-cream bowl as she picked up her spoon once more.  
  
When Usagi began shovelling her ice cream at what _had_ to be inhuman speeds to get out of answering Heero, the boy turned his glare on Quatre. He was going to get answers out of somebody today if it was the last thing he did.  
  
**Trust Usagi**, Quatre sighed softly. Dropping his head into his hands he looked over at Heero through is fingers, "There was originally four pilots for SandRock", he stated quietly.  
  
Duo blinked, his mind slowly digesting what he had just been told. He looked at Quatre and his sisters, then over at Makoto, ".... four?"  
  
Minako made some strange sort of zooming motion with her head as though she was watching something run past at high speed. "Mreeeeooooow, there goes the cat!"  
  
Everyone just stared at her, puzzled look on their faces. Duo put into words what everyone else was thinking.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Cat's out of the basket." Minako cheerfully replied to the inquiry.  
  
"Bag Minako," Rei sounded slightly exasperated, "You mean the cat's out of the bag".  
  
"But I keep Artemis in a basket." Minako looked _really_ confused about this one.   
  
"That's not the _point_"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
The boys were beginning to understand the concept of Minako and quotes not mixing very well.  
  
Rei sighed, "Forget it".  
  
Ami looked over the group, a slightly smug smile adorning her usually serene face, "There were backup pilots for _every_ Gundam," For some reason Ami was looking pointedly at Heero when she said this."Why do you think there was enough Gundaniam alloy to make replacements for all your suits?"  
  
Wufei gave her an incredulous look, **Is nothing a secret around here?** he wondered, "How do you know that?"  
  
Ami just smirked.   
  
Usagi frowned. Ami was acting weird again;actually she'd been acting weird since the boys had arrived - she made a note to pull her aside and ask her about that later, it was making her extremely curious.  
  
Duo was looking up from his empty ice-cream bowl indignantly, "Hey! It wasn't _our_ fault they got blown up!". He thought back over the war, Heero self-destructing, Quatre blowing up SandRock, "Umm. Okay, maybe it was our fault, some of us anyway. Let me rephrase that. It wasn't _my_ fault 'Scythe blew up", he pointed an accusing finger at the banged pilot; "_Trowa_ blew it up, not me!"  
  
The accused rolled his eyes, well at least that's what everyone assumed, they couldn't see his other one. **Is Duo _ever_ going to let that drop?** "I've paid you back for that _countless_ times, when are you going to let it go?"  
  
Duo turned the full force of his best 'kicked puppy' expression on Trowa. It may not have been quite up to the potency of Quatre's - then again the boy had twenty-nine older sisters and if they were _all_ like the three living in Juuban he'd _need_ some sort of super weapon, maybe he needed a buster rifle for his birthday - but it was close to it, "Ice-cream is good."  
  
To Usagi, who had also finished hers in record time, those were the magic words, "More ice-cream, more ice-cream!" She began to bounce in her seat, banging her spoon in time with her chanting a wide grin on her face.  
  
Each one of the girls gave a collective sigh and hung their heads. She may be their princess, their future Queen, their wonderful, kind-hearted friend, but Usagi was being Usagi again. Her zest for life, and more importantly her zest for food, could be embarrassing at times... and this was one of those times.  
  
Quatre crossed his arms and tried to look stern. It was hard to do, especialy when Usagi was bouncing up and down in her seat chanting for more ice-cream. Duo had decided to join her and Quatre couldn't decide whether to groan or grin when the pair managed to rope Minako into it as well. He hadn't realized just how much he'd missed those two, life had been far too quiet without them - less painful, yes - but too quiet, "Fatima will be _slightly_ put out if you don't eat your dinner tonight."  
  
**Usagi, not eat her dinner?** Rei snorted loudly, the girl could be a veritable vacuum cleaner when she wanted to be, "No worries there, Usagi has a bottomless pit for a stomach."  
  
Usagi stopped bouncing and pouted. She pouted even harder when no-one came to her defence, "Rei, you're so _mean_. Why do you always pick on me?"  
  
"I do not!" Rei stuck her nose up in the air , feigning a mixture of wounded pride and arrogance.  
  
"Do too!"  
  
"Not!"  
  
"Too"  
  
"Not"  
  
"Too"  
  
The boys' heads were bouncing backwards and forwards between the girls. Wufei blinked and stopped himself quickly when he realized what he was doing. He felt like he was watching a tennis match. He smirked and leaned back in his seat to watch the argument. **I've heard plenty these arguments before when I was hiding out at the temple, but I've never been actually able to watch one, I believe it gets just as irritating very quickly either way.**  
  
"_Not_"  
  
"_Too-ooo-ooo_" Usagi bounced in her seat a few times for that one, it reminded Wufei of a four year old throwing a temper tantrum.  
  
It quickly degenerated from there. Before the boys knew what was happening, the two girls were forehead to forehead, glaring at each other - Duo would swear up and down later that he could see sparks flying between the two and real flames in Rei's eyes - and engaging in what looked suspiciously like some sort of raspberry/tongue war.  
  
Quatre sank as low into his seat as was physically possible, "I don't know her" he muttered not so quietly, looking around to see how many people were watching his sister humiliate herself. He was shocked to notice next to no one paying any attention.   
  
The rest of the boys found this strange too. It was becoming obvious that a) this sort of argument was a common occurrence, and b) the girls were regular customers to the place. The other patrons had given up taking any notice a _long_ time ago. Some of the younger ones had never seen the arcade without these displays on a regular basis, it was part and parcel of coming to Crown Arcade.  
  
The girls all sighed again. After all they had been through, Beryl, Ail and Ann, Doom Phantom, Heart Snatchers, Death Ring Circus, Neriphiria, Galaxia, Chaos...and they still acted like that. In some ways it was a good thing, they hadn't let everything they'd experienced change who they were, but did they have to be so _embarrassing_?  
  
"That looks like fun!" Duo was watching the pair with amused interest, seeing how long they could keep it up for.  
  
"Don't even _think_ about it Maxwell."   
  
"Too late Wu!" Duo grinned impishly at his lover, "What'cha gonna do 'bout it?" and then waggled his eyebrows at him.  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes, well used to Duo's antics. Grabbing a hold of Duo's wrist, he pulled him closer and wrapped an arm around the boys' waist - it was half to restrain him from trying anything, and half hug.  
  
Duo smiled as Wufei pulled him even closer and whispered into his ear. His face softened, "Wu, that's so sweet. Really?"  
  
Ghosting his right hand down Duo's face in a move that was obviously an affectionate gesture, Wufei nodded and quirked his lips in an almost smile.  
  
Duo's smile widened and he snuggled into the Chinese boy. Wufei wasn't usually this affectionate in public but he wasn't complaining, _noooo_ he was not complaining at _all_.  
  
The tender moment was ruined as Minako tensed, and paled. She swore not so softly. Usagi glanced away from Rei, concequently breaking the stalemate and followed her line of sight. She also tensed, "Oh shit."   
  
The statement seemed to sum up the situation rather appropriately.  
  
Haruka had just walked through the Crown Arcade door, looking for all the world like a woman on a mission. She quickly scanned the room and headed straight for their table, snagging a chair on the way.  
  
"Is Koneko okay?" she asked as she reached them, flicking the chair around the wrong way and straddling it in a manner that bespoke _lots_ of practice, "I heard what she did."  
  
"She's had some ice-cream," Minako was trying to push herself into the back of the chair. When her older sister got into protective mode Allah help anyone who got in her way - they usually ended up on the wrong end of a Space Sword Blaster.  
  
Haruka shook her head, frowning slightly as she looked from Usagi to Minako, "Not enough." She stated as she tossed an energy bar that she had produced from nowhere across the table, hitting Usagi in the middle of the forehead when she failed to catch it in time.  
  
Haruka's frown deepened, **She should have been able to catch that, her reflexes are _much_ better than that!** "Eat. Now."  
  
Usagi glowered at her sister but did as she was told though. Through her loud munching the words 'meanie', 'over protective' and 'worse than Rashid' could be heard.  
  
Every single one of the Senshi were giving Haruka odd looks. They were trying to envision the tomboyish girl as anything other than what she looked like now, mainly with butt length hair and in a dress.  
  
It wasn't working.  
  
At all.  
  
The boys were looking at Haruka as well, though for a different reason. They couldn't work out _how_ she had known Usagi had done. She hadn't been anywhere _near_ the Youma attack - that they knew of. Well, all of them were looking except Quatre of course, Heero made a mental note to ask him about that later, he just looked resigned to the fact that Haruka had shown up. He was trying to slide under the table though, managing to look quite like Minako in the process.  
  
"How did you know?" Heero asked, though the tone of voice he used made it sound more like a demand.  
  
"A little birdie probably told her!" Quatre piped up, straightening in his chair a wicked glint in his eye at being able to pull one on his sister for a change.  
  
Haruka gave her little brother a long suffering look, "The _wind_ told me 30."  
  
Say _what_?! All the pilots - bar Quatre once again - gave the girl a measuring look. Either she was slightly insane - given what they had seen of the family so far they weren't ruling that possibility out - or there was something going on here.  
  
Trowa hazarded a wary guess, "Another one with abilities?" He didn't think insanity ran in the family, not all of it anyway just every second child or something.  
  
Quatre nodded at his lovers guess, " 'Ruka has always had a strange affinity with the wind. She can control it and it tells her things."  
  
Ami was looked over the group slightly curious, "Another one?"  
  
Haruka picked up the explanation before Quatre could continue, and - to her way thinking - stuff it up, "Some of us Winners have ummm what could be termed 'Special abilities'. As you've heard, I have an affinity with the wind. 30 has what he calls his 'Uchuu no Kokoro' -think empath - Usagi has her healing abilities..."   
  
For some strange reason both Haruka _and_ Quatre winced at the exact same time.   
  
~~SHUT UP~~  
  
Nobody else but those two had heard it. It had been meant for Haruka, but Quatre had heard it as well, and possibly Usagi as she slightly raised an eyebrow at the same time as her other siblings flinched.  
  
Minako leapt onto the table, one hand on her hip, the other with the index finger pointed in the air and bellowed, "I AM THE GODDESS OF LOVE!!!!" She then followed this bold statement up with a high pitched laugh that sent a pigtailed boy in a red chinese shirt running at full speed from the arcade yelling about roses and someone called Kodachi.  
  
"_Still_ has to work on her volume", muttered Haruka darkly briefly massaging her forehead.  
  
Quatre had to agree with her whole heartedly, **Her volume's improved..._OW_** he thought as he rubbed his temples.  
  
"Mina-chan, get off the table please," floated a slightly amused and indulgent male voice from somewhere in the arcade. It sounded suspiciously like Motoki.  
  
"Sure Motoki-chan!" Minako called back as she skipped off the table and bounced back into her seat grinning madly.  
  
Usagi rolled her eyes as she leant over the table to explain to the confused boys, "She's the self-proclaimed Goddess of Love. _Don't_ mention that you're single."  
  
As one, the Gundam pilots turned and looked at Heero, who tried, unsuccessfully, to glare them all down.  
  
Duo thoughtfully tapped one finger against his jaw wondering aloud, "Does Relena fall into Youma, or Human category?"  
  
Makoto gave him a curious look, "Why?"  
  
Duo gave her an evil grin and then winked at Heero, "Just wondering."  
  
Heero glared at him, "Baka."  
  
The remainder of the afternoon proceeded in much the same way. Both groups bantering, or bickering, between each other. Three near-miss ice-cream fights and a dinner invitation later they were ready to leave Crown Arcade.  
  
There was one small problem: They had lost Minako somewhere.  
  
They looked for her in the toilets, at the video games - that had been... interesting they had had to explain _why_ Minako looked exactly like Sailor V.   
  
Eventually they finally found her out the back, talking to Motoki. The pair were standing a _little_ too close for Quatre's comfort.  
  
He frowned deeply, "Minako, we're leaving _now_." At the glare his sister shot him he wondered if there was a way he could've handled that better.  
  
On the way out of the arcade Quatre pulled Minako aside to hiss quietly in her ear, "Work on the volume, hey Mi. That _was_ a little bit loud." He rubbed his temples to emphasise his point.  
  
Minako winked and walked out the doors ~~GOTCHA Q-TRA~~  
  
He winced again and rubbed his head. He had forgotten Minako only had three volumes: loud, louder, and loudest.  
  
Shaking his head, he followed her out of the arcade. He had to warn Fatima that there were going to be some more dinner guests that night.  
  
  
-tbc- 


	8. Dinner Explanations

About the pink haired spore: Not here. M-chan: But at the moment I'm tempted to do a silly sidefic with her in it. Just for the hell of it ^_^  
  
Sorry it took so long. M-chan: Life happened to me in between me finishing exams and going home for holidays, part of the result was no -- very little Internet access.  
  
We have been promising side stories I know M: Blame shee-chan she has the first one mine can't be released yet due to _major_ spoilers so ask her not me! S: It's not finished yet **wails** Real life bit me on the butt...and I'm doing some major overhaul on it. I'm not satisfied with some of the grammar and some of the story seems a bit forced at the moment.  
  
Reviews are well loved but please don't flame us for the ending K ^_^. S: Actually do flame us for the ending if you want. It'll just go into the flame hall of shame. Where it will be laughed at, spell checked and made fun of by everybody..so go ahead.  
  
Disclaimer: We don't own any of these characters!!!!  
Warning: General insanity, X-over with Sailor Moon with occasional references to Ranma 1/2 and possibly other anime as we think of them (S: figured that better go in there, we have mentioned stuff from R1/2 a couple of times now)  
Pairings: HarukaxMichiru, 3x4, 5x2... so far.  
Archive: Shadowsicetears (I can't remember the name of you site...GOMEN NASAI!!!) and the Ml Archive. If you want to archive just ask us. It may take a while but we _will_ get back to you eventually.  
  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Last time on Hidden Bloodlines:  
  
Trowa discovers that he knew Makoto from before Operation Meteor, where she used to give the first Trowa Barton an extremely hard time - constantly decking him and playing practical jokes, and it turns out that she was a back up pilot for Heavyarms  
  
Ami reveals that she may know more about the Gundam Pilots than everybody thinks.  
  
It turns out that Haruka, Minako and Usagi were also back up pilots for Sandrock.  
  
And now Part 8:  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The Gundam pilots were all gathered at the foot of the stairwell waiting for Usagi, Minako and their friends to come down for dinner. The lot of them had disappeared up to the girls joint rooms the moment they had arrived back and had been there ever since. The boys were just hoping they appeared before midnight, some members of the group were getting hungry, and that was a _bad_ thing.  
  
Heero suppressed a grimace as he tried to loosen the collar of his shirt and tie without success. He hoped the girls came down soon, the sooner they got down the sooner dinner would start. The sooner dinner started the sooner he could get out of this restrictive outfit. He had _not_ wanted to wear it in the first place, but Quatre had put his foot down, turning a look on him that was usually reserved for his sisters. The tone of voice hadn't been much better.  
  
"We are having guests for dinner. We _will_ be dressed appropriately."   
  
Funnily enough, Quatre had been looking at Heero when he was speaking.  
  
The Manguanacs had already headed into the overly large dining room, dressed appropriately in formal versions of their everyday wear. Haruka and her... family were also waiting with them for the girls to come downstairs. Little Hotaru was standing between Uncle Trowa and Uncle Quatre, one of their hands in each of hers, beaming. The novelty of having uncles, especially ones who doted on her, was still very new to her.  
  
Usagi appeared at the top of the stairs, smiling, surrounded by her friends. Gracefully, she made her way down, smiling gently at the women and child who awaited her. In return, each gave a minute bow and fell into position around their beloved princess as they moved towards the dining room. Following close behind them was a slightly confused group of Gundam pilots.  
  
As the group of females moved ahead Duo gave a slight snort and called quietly over his  
shoulder to Quatre, "Y'know, Quatre, your sisters' bodyguards don't _need_ to be so overprotective in your own house!"  
  
"They're not bodyguards", Quatre frowned slightly back at Duo, "I've got _more_than enough Manguanacs to go around."  
  
Wufei tilted his head, watching the girls as they moved towards the dining room, and considered this statement, "It sure _looks_ like they are Winner."  
  
By now all the pilots were staring intently at the group of chattering females walking ahead of them... in a standard guard formation.  
  
"Hn." **They formed a protective circle around Usagi when I pulled my gun on _Ami_ as well**.  
  
Trowa wrapped his arms around Quatre's shoulder, smiling at him when   
the boy looked up, "They have a point, it looks like the sort of formation we   
would use guarding Relena."  
  
Even though most of the groups groaned at the thought they were all in agreement of that statement.  
  
Quatre looked at the group of girls, eyes narrowed slightly, then shrugged his shoulders, spreading his hands in an 'I'm innocent... really' gesture, "If they _are_ bodyguards _I_ sure didn't assign them."  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Dinner proved to be an... interesting affair.  
  
Usagi had never been one to eat all of her vegetables, at least not at the dinner table. She was well known to eat a vegetable one night and leave it the next, leaving a different one the next night, just for interests sake. It wasn't that she was a fussy eater, but in a family of thirty children one had to find some way of drawing attention to oneself, otherwise you got lost in the crowd.  
  
Tonight it was the peas turn to be left alone. She was passing the time, and wasting the peas, by flicking them at Rashid with her knife. She was having a few difficulties deflecting the return shots though; Rashid seemed to love flinging them back at her at full speed, only her Senshi reflexes were saving her from wearing mushy green spots on her clothes. The large man was, however, developing a suspicious twitch in the left hand corner of his mouth.  
  
For some reason Duo and Hotaru had been seated across from one another, no-one knew how, or why, but most agreed it was a bad idea and shouldn't happen again.   
  
  
Usagi had been hard pressed to explain the fit of seemingly inexplicable giggles when Minako had remarked ~~THE GOD OF DEATH AND THE GODDESS OF DESTRUCTION... ALLAH SAVE US!!!~~.   
  
  
Early on in the pea hockey match between Usagi and Rashid, the pair had mutually decided that it looked like too much fun to pass up on. So they had begun a pea hockey game of their own; the current score was 8 - 6 in favour of Hotaru. The goal was to get your pea in between the wine glass and the dinner plate; there were bonus points if the pea flew off the table, or if it was squashed into oblivion, extra bonus points if it had a _really_ interesting splatter pattern.  
  
There had nearly been an incident when Minako redirected a bad shot from Rashid, who had been distracted by Abdul at the time, almost directly into Heero's forehead. After the infamous 'Omae o Korosu' glare made its' way around the tables occupants, all games of pea hockey strangely ceased. It didn't stop Duo from flinging one last pea in Heero's direction though, he had long ago built up an immunity to the glare - he swore up and down to anybody who asked him, that Heero had different variations of it for different occasions.  
  
Quatre cleared his throat to gain his sisters' attention. It worked, but not before Haruka made a turning motion with her hand and smirked, "Needs a little more choke." [1]  
  
Deciding to ignore his sisters smart-arsed comment, he aired the question that had been bothering him for most of the day, "Who exactly is 'Mamo-baka'?"  
  
The reactions were quite interesting. As one everyone looked at the blonde girls, it was hard not to notice each and every female at the table wearing a deep scowl. Some, like Makoto and Haruka, were muttering curses under their breath.  
  
Hotaru, quite interestingly, began to glow a dark purple, "If I _ever_ get my hands on him," she spat out, looking much older than her eight years - and rather dangerous, "I'll slit him from neck to navel!".  
  
"'Taru, don't be so bloodthirsty. Wait until you're older," Usagi was doing her best to pretend the conversation was not happening, "Besides, _I_ have first dibs."  
  
The pilots were more than a little surprised when the usually calm, collected Setsuna spoke up, a fierce frown marring her elegant features, "We are _all_ going to cause him great amounts of pain."  
  
The quiet, yet dangerous, tone of voice she used to deliver her threat, no, her promise, caused Quatre to become even more curious about the answer. He decided to try again, since it didn't seem like his query was going to be answered, "Who is he, and what did he do?"  
  
The glow around Hotaru deepened, the tone of her voice promising pain, "He hurt Usagi-hime. He must die!" The girls sitting nearest to her began to edge away_very_ slowly - reminiscent of the way the boys did when Quatre was _really_ mad. Zero system type mad.  
  
Usagi skewered a potato on her fork. Tilting her head as she bought it up to eye level, she addressed it, "I have an eight year old wanting to help me kill my ex. Oh _yay_". The tone of voice, however, was expressing anything but joy.  
  
She viciously ate the potato, nearly biting clean through her fork in the process.  
  
Duo took in the various expressions of disgust on the face of every female in the room with a feeling akin to awe, **Wow, they're _really_ protective of her. I didn't think it was possible, but I think they're even worse than the Manguanacs!** He spoke up, his voice slightly petulant, "I want friends like that!!"  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes as he snorted at his lovers antics, "Baka," he cuffed Duo lightly in the shoulder, "You _do_ have friends like that!"  
  
Duo paused for a second to consider what Wufei had just said, sitting back in his chair slightly, "Oh. Yeah."  
  
Quatre's eyes narrowed dangerously as he heard Usagi's conversation with her potato. He barely managed to grind out the word thought he had heard his sister utter, "Ex?"  
  
Usagi barely restrained herself from groaning out loud. **K'so, busted. Damn.** She flipped hear hand in a negligent wave, "Forget it Q. We've got it covered."  
  
Unsurprisingly Quatre wasn't going to 'forget about it'. He hadn't been sure about what she had said before, now that he knew he _really_ wanted a damn good explanation - and he wanted it yesterday.  
  
  
"Ex."  
  
Usagi glared at him, her tone becoming icy, "Is it _so_ surprising that _I_ had a boyfriend? _You_ have one, do you see _me_ going ballistic about it? I _said_ 'forget it'."   
  
Quatre ignored the glare, merely reflecting it right back at her, his tone was just as icy, "And I'm not going to. I'll say again. Ex?"  
  
Usagi was stubbornly silent.  
  
Seeing that he was going to get no response his frown deepened - similar thoughts were running through each sisters head **He looks so much like father when he does that** - and bought out the heavy artillery, "Finish the story, Usagi, or Rashid gets to ask next." If he didn't know better, he could have _sworn_ he saw Rashid preen himself.  
  
Usagi dropped her head in defeat at the sight of the large mans' grin. The other females in the group also flinched at this shot, Usagi and Minako had taken great lengths to describe Rashid to them. A muttered 'Bugger' could be hear coming from Rei's end of the table.  
  
Makoto decided to speak up before things got any worse for her princess, hopefully stopping any further questions while she was at it. She had been idly flicking her steak knife over in her fingers since the topic of Tuxedo-baka had been raised - wishing that he was in the immediate vicinity so she could throw it at him.  
  
"He dumped her, what more needs to be said?" She paused and tapped the knife's hilt thoughtfully on her chin, "Oh yeah, He must DIE!!!" With that, she sent the knife spinning across the table.  
  
Had anyone else other than Trowa been sitting in that position - say Mamo-baka - the results may have been... slightly different. As it was, Trowa simply plucked the knife out of the air and handed it back to her, silently vowing never to introduce her to Catherine if he could possibly help it - he knew having two females in a room that liked to throw sharp, pointy objects at him would probably not be a good thing. Though he should have remembered about the incident with the knife in the mess hall... Barton had a nasty scar as a result of that encounter.  
  
He arched his eyebrow as Makoto began flipping the knife again. Turning to his silently fuming lover he understated, "Bloodthirsty lot."  
  
Quatre was absently rubbing at his chest with a frown marring his features, he could feel the pain emanating from his sister. **I'm sorry Usa, but if I don't know what he's done I can't plan accordingly.** He looked back at Trowa, "With good reason."  
  
He began to look over Usagi's friends, trying to decide who would be the best to pry the information out of. Haruka and Minako had closed ranks, with Haruka taking Michiru with her. Makoto and Hotaru seemed to be incoherent, therefore no good to get any answers out of - plus Makoto was still flipping that knife, and Hotaru was still glowing purple. That left only Rei, Ami and Setsuna. He made his decision.  
  
"Ami."  
  
All the girls cringed. The knew Ami's answer would be brutally honest.  
  
Noting the reactions, Quatre congratulated himself on a choice well made. He looked over at Usagi and pulled up short, not quite believing what he was seeing. He blinked and looked again.  
  
She was still doing it.  
  
She was glaring at him. That in itself was not strange, it was _how_ she was glaring at him. At some time, while he had been choosing who to ask about Mamo-baka, she had picked up her fork, and Heero's as well if his startled look was anything to go by, and held them vertically in front of her eyes as she glared. Quatre held a brief debate with himself and curiosity won, he had to ask, "Usagi...._what_ are you doing?"  
  
"Stress relief, you're all in jail."   
  
It was delivered with a perfectly straight face. Her monotone would have done Heero proud.  
  
The table gaped at her, disbelieving - Quatre couldn't decide whether to groan or laugh. As he watched, she shifted the forks so that they prongs were horizontal and began to smirk slightly.  
  
He covered his eyes partly with one hand and looked at her from between his fingers, "What now?" He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.  
  
"You all fell over."  
  
About half the Manguanacs choked on unison, while Duo fell out of his chair howling with laughter. Rashid was covering a broad smirk with one hand while the other pounded Abdul on the back, trying to help him to breathe. In between giggles the girls were trying to figure out where the hell Usagi had learnt that one! [2]  
  
Once everything had calmed down somewhat, with only the occasional giggle from the girls, Quatre turned to Ami, "Ami, what happened?"  
  
The room went silent - bar Usagi's munching and attempt to converse with her plate. "Baka, baka, 30 no baka!" The plate wasn't answering her... yet.  
  
Ami looked between Usagi and her little brother and decided to look at the wall behind Usagi's ear instead. She uttered the explanation as quickly and painlessly as possible, "He found a new girlfriend while he was studying abroad at University and forgot to tell anyone, mainly Usa-chan."  
  
Silence reigned over the room. "He needs to die". Well, apart from Usagi's not so quiet chanting. She was stabbing at the steak on her plate rather violently.  
  
"I'm beginning to agree with her," muttered Quatre distractedly as he reviewed Ami's statement. There was something abut what Ami had said that was niggling at the back of his mind. Finally it caught up with him, "WHAT?! He was at _UNIVERSITY_?!?!"  
  
Minako nodded an affirmative , **Q looks pissed. In for a penny in for a dollar I guess.** "Yeah, he was doing post-grad studies in..."  
  
Quatre's outraged voice cut her off before she could finish. His eyes were flashing dangerously, he didn't look very happy at all. "He was doing _post-grad_?" He growled and raked his gaze across the table, "How old _is_ he?"  
  
Rei looked thoughtful as she did the math aloud, "Well, let's see. We met him when he was twenty... and we were fourteen. So that would make him... around twenty-three I guess." She glanced at Ami and Usagi to confirm her calculations and stopped short. There were some rather interesting reactions happening around the table.  
  
Quatre was spluttering furiously. Trowa was trying to calm him down but failing miserably - it didn't help that he was looking decidedly outraged as well.  
  
Rashid's face was so red it was bordering on purple, Abdul was gaping at the girls - mainly Usagi - while the rest of the males present were blinking. They had been expecting an age difference, but not _that_ big of a difference - it was almost cradle snatching!  
  
As one, the Manguanac end of the table seemed to come to life. They all seemed to  
realize that this 'Mamo-baka' had insulted one of their charges - vengeance was called for, something swift, just, and _extremely_ painful. They were searching for swords, guns, knives, hacksaws, nail files [3], any sort of weapon they could get their hands on.  
  
The girls, meanwhile, were surreptitiously looking for an exit - give them Beryl, give them Chaos, _anything_ but vengeful Manguanacs out for blood.  
  
Shall it be said that the situation degenerated rapidly from there.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The week continued normally - well as normally as you can get in Juuban, especially when you live in a house with forty over-enthusiastic Manguanacs, five Gundam pilots, two Sailor Senshi, and two talking cats. Minako swore there was a partridge in the apple tree hanging around somewhere as well, but she couldn't prove it.  
  
'Study sessions' were now split between Hikawa Jinja and the Winner residence. This was mainly due to a certain overprotective, blonde, Gundam pilot, brother who didn't need to be named.  
  
Thursday afternoon saw the first of the new study sessions. It had got off to a good start - Fatima had plied them with enough goodies to feed a small army, or in this case Usagi, and Makoto had to be held back from following her into the kitchen. None of the pilots were home, though they did have to be careful of the Manguanacs who weren't busy stalking Quatre.  
  
Ami arrived half an hour into the session, and, at her suggestion, they opened the connecting door to the main foyer. They had a _perfect_ view as the boys came slipping and sliding into the foyer some minutes later, sopping wet and shivering.  
  
The girls all gathered in the doorway and tried, unsuccessfully, not to laugh.  
  
"Let me guess," Makoto looked them up and down, smirking and trying to look thoughtful, "You tried to help the Senshi again ne?"  
  
All the girls lost what little composure they had and burst into giggles. An irate message had come through on their communicators earlier, It had been followed by much grumbling about uncertain parentage, and some rather inventive swearing in Mercurian, before the link clicked closed abruptly.  
  
The boys were all glaring at them. They didn't find anything amusing about the situation, they were all cold and wet. The girls managed to get themselves under control for a little while, but were set off again at the sight of Duo wringing out his braid, and Heero pouring water out of his oh-so-precious gun. It was just too funny not to laugh.  
  
"We did warn you not to try and get involved," stated Usagi. She showed a great deal of restraint as she looked them over - trying desperately not to laugh outright in their faces, "Neptune?" She asked, even though she already knew the answer.  
  
All five shook their heads miserably.  
  
Rei looked them over, taking in Duo's blue lips, the arm Trowa had around Quatre in an attempt to keep him... to get him warm. "Ahh, _Mercury_. Sailor Senshi of Ice and Intelligence."  
  
Duo shivered violently, "We can vouch for the ice." He sounded _slightly_ put out.  
  
Even in his extremely sodden and chilled state, Heero noticed Rei's statement. **She appears to know their abilities well. A fan... or something else?**  
  
Minako snorted at Duo's tone, "Be thankful it wasn't Mars!"  
  
"Why?" Trowa looked at her quizzically over her brothers' head.  
  
She didn't answer him. She was too busy trying not to blush. The feelings of love and contentment emanating from Quatre were quite sweet really - in a sickly sweet, lovey dovey sort of way, but Duo's thoughts were running away with him, and they were definitely heading down south of the border at an _alarming_ rate.   
  
~~Shower... Hot shower... 'Fei and hot shower. I wonder if I can convince him that I need help washing my hair...heh heh...~~ Could be heard, by her at least, and his eyes had glazed over.  
  
Minako was pretty sure from the barely visible smirk on her brothers face, that similar thoughts were running through _his_ head - but at least _he_ knew how to shield.  
  
Rei rolled her eyes at Trowa's question, as though it were the most obvious answer in the world, "Say it with me now," She moved her hands as though she were conducting an orchestra, "Flambé."  
  
There was a decidedly evil smirk on her face.  
  
Usagi began to snicker at the mental image _that_ conjured up, "Let's just say you'll be able to see out of _both_ of your eyes."  
  
**They _all_ seem to know a lot. A regional thing?**  
  
"HEY!!" Rei objected to Usagi's comment, "The aim's not _that_ bad."  
  
"If you say so pyro, if you say so." Usagi seemed to be deliberately provoking her.  
  
Heero was getting more and more curious as the conversation progressed, **Interesting.**  
  
That incident was repeated at various times throughout the week as the boys tried to help the Senshi - and the Senshi kept knocking them out of the way with low powered attacks. If they thought Mercury was bad, the Outer Senshi were even worse, their version of 'low power' was getting stronger by the day.   
  
They were getting better at finding Youma weak spots however.  
  
The week passed normally. The girls kept disappearing, the boys kept trying - without success - to follow them. The Manguanacs kept finding the two cats in the _strangest_places - like down in the computer room in front of an active computer, heading away from the estate, in front of the refrigerator... but then again they kept finding Usagi there when they thought she was missing too.  
  
It was just going to set the trend for the weeks to come.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Sunday afternoon found the boys returning from their monthly debriefing at Preventers HQ. Duo found it a little unusual that they were going to have a 'monthly' debriefing after only being in Juuban for a little over a week. It turned out to be relatively uncomplicated. It was more of a 'How are you settling into your new home?' and 'Oh, Sally wants to do some tests' type of debriefing.  
  
The latter statement was met with an ear piercing shriek from Duo. He lunged for the window and attempted to pull a Heero. That is, jump out of the window in an attempt to escape - totally disregarding the fact that they were fifty stories up, and he was without a parachute.   
  
Sally, of course, walked in as the others were trying to pry Duo away from the now open window, "Ahh, Duo. Happy to see me as always I see".  
  
Duo snorted and let go of the window frame, "Always great ta see ya Sal, but those instruments of torture you have in that medical cart hiding out in the hallway? HELL NO!!!"  
  
They were well and truly glad to be home. They had been poked, prodded and jabbed enough to last them a lifetime - or until Sally felt like being sadistic again at least, which happened _far_ too regularly. A swim and some relaxation was sounding really good right about then.  
  
It was not to be, Zoltan - one of Quatre's Manguanacs - hurried up to the group as they walked inside. Let it be said that he _did_ try to stop them but they were _very_ determined to get inside.  
  
"Quatre-sama, Quatre-sama, you have a guest. She's...."  
  
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"  
  
They followed standard life preserving procedure: Duck and cover.  
  
A brilliant flash of light lit up the foyer.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
[1] S: My Dad does this -_-;;  
  
[2] M: My friend Ty taught me. I soo nearly sprayed everyone at dinner the first time  
she did it ^_^  
  
[3] M: The nail files are _too_ a weapon the nice man at the airport who made me open all my bags and get them out told me so :P  
  
Please don't kill us K ^_^ 


	9. Mental Mayhem

Hiya!,  
  
M: Sorry, once again life happened to me and I didn't get this back to shee-chan when I wanted to, so it took longer than expected to get out.  
  
S: And I was supposed to post this thing Chrissy eve...**sheepish grin** Circumstances out of my control mean that I couldn't post this 'till today.  
  
About Mamo-baka, yes he is a bit OOC but we don't really like him so we don't really care. Also we did exaggerate the age difference just so Q could be that little bit more outraged, we're not evil really we're not ^_^  
  
This is sort of a lead up and fill in chapter for upcoming events, we wanted a few things to happen first. ^_^  
  
S: Finally MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!! And Happy New Year!!  
  
  
HIDDEN BLOODLINES PART 8: MENTAL MAYHEM  
  
Feminine laughter reached the pilots ears. There was definitely more than one voice. Somehow the pilots just _knew_ that they'd been had. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.  
  
Standing at the top of the stairs was the Queen of the World, but there was nothing dignified or royal with the way in which she was standing - or would that be in the way in which she was not standing? Relena Peacecraft was barely able to stay on her own two feet, she was relying heavily on the banister to hold herself upright. Tears of laughter made their way down her cheeks in streams, and she had long ago turned red from laughter, and there was no sign of her stopping soon.  
  
Another flash of light to their left was followed by uncontrollable giggles. Once the boys were able to blink the afterimage from their eyes they discovered Usagi standing on one side of the grand staircase, a camera in her hand. On the other side stood Minako, with a video camera that obnoxious red light still blinking on, indicating it was still rolling.  
  
Usagi giggled and glanced up at her fellow Queen, "Okay, we should've believed you."  
  
They should have believed who? Relena? Had they missed something? Why was Relena here? The boys weren't quite getting the big picture.  
  
"Now we owe you five bucks each". Minako didn't look too unhappy about that, she shrugged "It was worth it though." She turned smirking to the boys, "You should've seen the looks on your faces! Totally _classic_!"  
  
Relena laughed again, "Don't worry about paying me. A copy of the pictures and video should be payment enough."  
  
The boys could only stand there and gape. They had _definitely_ missed something while they had been gone. Relena - Heero's stalker, according to Duo, was standing at the top of the stairs. Apart from emitting the mating call of the Relenus Idioticus - a term Duo had come up with during the war after she had compromised their identities for the hundredth time - she had yet to follow standard creature behaviour and glomp the Heero Heroicus - who would then issue grunts and death threats as were common for members of his species. Of course Duo had been taking biology when he came up with the terms, his class had been studying mating habits of the worlds creatures... which went a long way to explaining things.  
  
But still, jokes aside, Relena was _not_ acting like Relena.  
  
The next flash was enough to shake Heero and Wufei out of their stupor. Quatre's sisters had incriminating evidence of them being stupid; it had to be destroyed - preferably burnt, with them burying the ashes in a hidden location in the middle of the night. With twin growls they   
launched themselves at the girls.  
  
It didn't work.  
  
Placing their hands behind their backs, Usagi and Minako quickly shoved their cameras into their subspace pockets. There was no _way_ the boys were going to get their hands on the original copies - why waste good blackmail material? When their hands were bought back around to the front of their bodies they were empty.  
  
Relena saw it all from her vantage point on the stairs. She started to laugh again, **It's not very often you see someone get the upper hand on the pilots. Don't worry my friends, your secret is safe with me. I keep my promises.**  
  
~~Thank you.~~ Relena jumped, she'd forgotten about that.  
  
"What?" Usagi was trying not to laugh as Wufei patted her down, trying desperately to find the camera. When he didn't find it on her he started to search the surrounding area. On her other side, Heero was mimicking his actions with Minako.  
  
Relena burst out laughing again. The look of desperation on the two boys faces was hilariously funny. Trying to walk down the stairs and laugh at the same time was hard though, she barely caught herself on the banister a couple of times, falling on your nose was considered ungraceful after all.  
  
Duo was looking wide eyed between the girls and Heero, **I did not just see that. Tell me I did not just see that!** "Hey Heero, it looks like they know your gun hiding trick. How do you do that? Can you teach me?" He looked hopefully between the two blonde girls and his fellow pilot.  
  
All three gave noncommittal grunts and shrugged their shoulders - at exactly the same time.  
  
Duo's eyes widened, "Did anybody else find that scary?"  
  
As Relena made her way down the stairs and over towards the pilots Duo smirked, "Oi, 'Jousan!"  
  
"Yes Duo?" She recognised that look in his eyes, he was in a teasing mood and she was his target *Damn.*  
  
"You're slipping. It took you a week to find us."  
  
That was a little close to home. It was true that she had spent a (great) portion of the war following Heero around like a stray puppy, but that was _not_ why she had come to Juuban.  
  
"I've been _busy_."  
  
------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
~~Usa~~, Minako pointedly did _not_ look at her sister. There were only a handful of people who knew about her abilities, and she did intended to keep it that way. Staring at her sister for no apparent reason would seem a little suspicious.  
  
~~Yeah Mi?~~  
  
~~He can access subspace?~~  
  
Her sister gave the mental equivalent of a snort, ~~Well, the gun has to come from somewhere and I don't see any betraying lines 'round his butt do you?... Not that I was looking or anything.~~  
  
~~But...~~  
  
~~Yes butt. Let's not go there right now. I'll talk to Luna later. Not that she'll remember anything anyway.~~  
  
"If you two are _quite_ finished." Quatre flicked an irritated look between his sisters. Minako had forgotten that he knew when she was talking, he had once described it to her as a faint tingling in the back of his mind.  
  
"It was a private conversation." She said in an upper crust English accent, just to annoy him.  
  
Quatre sighed. The other pilots had a feeling that they were missing an important piece of the puzzle. There had been no 'private conversation' taking place, neither Usagi's _or_ Minako's lips had been moving.  
  
Relena tapped Usagi on the shoulder, breaking the staring competition that was beginning between the siblings, "Usagi, I'm going to go and retrieve Mamoru from the Manguanacs now. I'll see you at school on Monday." Relena turned and left the room before any of the boys present could ask just what she had meant by that, and who was Mamoru?  
  
"Did we miss something?" Duo couldn't figure out where too look. His gaze was bouncing between Quatre's sisters and where Relena had disappeared, questions racing their way across his brain.  
  
Moments later Relena returned with a rather dishevelled male in tow. He was tall, with dark hair, wearing a black turtle neck and green blazer -despite the fact it had to be at _least_ 28 degrees outside and brilliant sunshine, not to mention that he looked ridiculous with it on. Relena waved as she went past, dragging the male rather forcibly behind her, he looked nervous when he spotted Usagi and Minako but looked even _more_ so when he spotted Quatre.  
  
Wufei watched them pass, bemusement and confusion warring for supremacy on his features, "_Definately_ missed something. Exactly _who_ was that?"  
  
"Mamoru Chiba." Minako's voice and manner were decidedly _too_ chirpy.  
  
"Mamoru." There was something about that name, something familiar about it, "Ma..mo..ru...Mamo..ru... as in _Mamo-baka_?!"  
  
He wasn't a happy little brother, if he had it right a perfectly good target had just walked out his front door.  
  
"Yep!" If chirpiness was catching, then Usagi had caught it.  
  
Heero looked at both of the grinning females slowly. Something didn't quite make sense here, just the other day they were threatening 'Mamo-baka' with grievous bodily harm, hell every female at the table and the Manguanacs had been. Yet they had just let him walk out the door relatively unharmed. He couldn't _quite_ believe he was seeing this, "The one you wanted to kill?" He just had to check and see that he _was_ 100% correct here.  
  
Usagi nodded, "Uh huh. Just like you're going to kill Relena... eventually. A word of advice though Heero, death threats seem to work best when you carry them out."  
  
Heero glared at her. It was with what Duo had named Shut-up-you-annoying-little-insect-before-I-squish-you-flat-with-Wing-self-destruct-  
and-then-shoot-you-twice glare, it was used when you pissed him off. This particular glare and Duo were old, old friends, after the first one hundred times or so it lost its' potency - provided you survived that long.  
  
"And you let him into the house?" Quatre couldn't quite believe his sisters either.  
  
Minako gave him an evil grin, "We're making him sweat."  
  
"Besides," Usagi smirked, "We let the Manguanacs have a little 'chat' to him."  
  
Both girls began to snicker.  
  
Trowa almost felt sorry for the man. Almost. He could well imagine what the Manguanacs had done to him once they discovered that he was the well hated Mamo-baka.  
  
He remembered when he and Quatre had first started dating. He had been pulled out of bed by four Manguanacs - he and Quatre were still sleeping alone at that stage - and bodily carried to a tent some distance away from the main camp. He'd been tied to the room's only chair, clad only in his boxers, and grilled by all forty Manguanacs on his intentions toward Quatre. He shuddered to think what would have happened had they not found him worthy of him, he was pretty sure they would have been a Gundam pilot down for the rest of the war. He felt truly sorry for whoever ended up dating Usagi and Minako. The Manguanacs had adopted the two girls much the same way they had adopted their brother, and it appeared that it wouldn't be long before their friends were adopted as well. He almost smiled, those girls were going to find it _hard_ to get a date very soon.  
  
Wufei was still staring at the door where Relena and Mamoru had left, "That was Mamo-baka...with Relena?"  
  
  
The two girls nodded. Usagi had been tempted to say 'Nuh-uh that Catsy she was taking Rubeus out shopping for a dress to wear to the ball on Friday night', but then she would have had a hard time explaining just who they were, and if anyone did know, how they knew them.   
  
"And everyone's _okay_ with this?" Duo, like everyone other male present, was having a hard time believing what he had just seen and heard. Why weren't they following him with knives and other sharp instruments with strange, unholy gleams in their eyes?  
  
Usagi smirked, "Unless Heero has a problem with it?"  
  
Everyone looked at Heero.  
  
He was blushing. Usagi quickly whipped out her camera from subspace, took a picture, and hid it again. Heero glared, but somehow, it just wasn't as potent as his normal ones were, it may have been the slightly panicked look in his eyes. It somehow lacked in the intensity department.  
  
"_Baka_!" Just who Heero was talking to couldn't be determined - he stormed out before anyone could ask him just who was 'Baka'.  
  
"You know," Usagi looked thoughtful, "That almost sounds extremely nasty the way he says that."  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Over the ensuing weeks certain facts became evident to the pilots; the girls had a number of secrets, or one large one, and Relena, it seemed, knew said secret. No matter how hard they tried to find out what these secrets were, they were met with dead ends, something the pilots had rarely encountered before.   
  
Relena was helping to cover for the girls - with whom she had become very fast friends, when that had happened was just as big a mystery [1]. It also appeared that Motoki, from the arcade, knew something, but whatever it was, he was just as tight lipped as Relena. It was beginning to get on the boys nerves. Really, Relena being able to keep a secret?  
  
They also continued to try and help the Sailor Senshi in their Youma fights; much to the disgust of the Senshi. It was becoming a common occurrence to have a Senshi or two come up to them after a battle and bawl them out - their magic wasn't the only powerful thing about them, some of them could yell quite loudly when they wanted to, most bystanders were more taken aback by the senshi's displays of temper than the actual Youma.   
  
Take the leader, Cosmos, for instance, some of her shrieks would probably be off the decibel scale, with Mars coming in a _very_ close second. Jupiter appeared to be close to decking some of the pilots a number of times, once she had to be held back by Uranus, and Mercury seemed to take a perverse pleasure in freezing them on sight, no questions, no explanations, just deep freeze.   
  
Venus would just tie them up with that chain of hers, though once she had even terrified her fellow senshi, she had just grabbed Duo and Quatre out from in front of a blast. They were still tied up with her chain when she threatened them with a stone sword. Cosmos and Pluto   
looked like they nearly had heart attacks on the spot. In the gentle tone one uses with insane people they got her to put the sword away, both looked decidedly shaken though. The pilots didn't see what the big deal was, it was a stone sword, how much damage could it do. [2]  
  
They didn't even want to _think_ about the Outer Senshi - Saturns' Glaive was rather pointy... So was Uranus' sword for that matter; and although it looked funny, Plutos' Key pack a very good wallop, Duo had a bump for days after the usually calm woman slammed it into the side of his head during a particularly rough fight.  
  
It was getting to the point where the pilots could dodge a 'low powered' attack from the Sailor Senshi meant to knock them away from the fight - they really needed to talk to them about their definition of 'low power' - and still fire at the Youma's weak spots.   
  
It was a game of wits - was it really 'low power'? which way will I dodge? Where is the weak spot? Not surprisingly all the pilots were all enjoying it greatly.  
  
It was surprising how fast the Senshi learnt their names though.  
  
---  
  
"DAMNIT CHANG, move that white clad hiney before I roast your hide you _idiot_!"  
  
Wufei decided at the last minute that yelling 'Just 'cause you can't aim for shit, Rei!', may not be the wisest course of action at that time.  
  
Oh, Rei knew he knew about of course - he'd discovered _that_ little secret the last time he had been in Juuban [3]. The girl had sworn him to secrecy about that little fact, along with a couple of others. He really _didn't_ fell like testing the potency of a 'Flame Sniper' at the moment, not at that range anyway and not without his Gundam - you do _not_ argue with temperamental Miko's who can control fire, especially when her friends control the other elements, well not without significant protection, or unless you have _no_ survival instinct.  
  
Needless to say, the discoveries he had made on his previous visit had been expanded on. Rei hadn't sworn him to secrecy on that, but he wouldn't tell anyone anyway - she had powerful friends, well ones that could cause great amounts of personal and property damage anyway.   
  
---  
  
One of the most interesting events by far - and that was saying something considering what they had seen already - had been the boys, and some of the girls, discovery of Minako's ability.  
  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Minako and Usagi had gone missing, _again_. It was becoming too regular an occurrence.   
  
"Y'Know Q this is a _great_ way to spend a Friday night. Waiting for your friends' big sisters to come home."  
  
Quatre was waiting for them with his fellow pilots. He was currently debating the merits of planting a tracking device somewhere on their person, then remembered what it was like to have to look for frogs in your pillow cases and shaving cream in your shoes every day and night.   
  
Around 1:20am the two blondes entered the estate. They entered the mansion quietly enough, any normal person probably wouldn't have noticed them, but those waiting for them were _not_ your average people. Once the two were certain that no-one was awake, they began to   
tiptoe their way towards the stairs, trying to sneak upstairs past the five ex-Gundam pilots they didn't know were standing sentry.  
  
As they passed Quatre he flicked a table lamp on. Minako was the first to speak - but not before she shoved Usagi into the shadows, "Uhh...hi. Yeah. We haven't done anything wrong... Really." She glanced from face to stony face and gulped, "You're not going to believe us are you?"  
  
All five shook their heads and tried to look intimidating; it appeared to be working well, for a change.  
  
"It was worth a try."  
  
Usagi was staying firmly entrenched in the shadows where Minako had put her. Aware his sister was attempting to stay out of sight, Quatre closely examined her and could faintly see traces what looked suspiciously like blood on her face. He wasn't one hundred percent sure because of the shadows, but it did look like she was injured in some way. He scowled more deeply, not good, not good at all.  
  
He wasn't the only one to notice either, Trowa did also, "Usagi, come over here and give me a look at that, it looks nasty". He flicked on the table lamp near him, which also happened to be nearer her than Quatre's.  
  
She tried to move further back into the shadows when Trowa flicked his lamp on while using the wall for support, "S'okay."  
  
It was an obvious attempt to stop him from worrying. It only helped to confirm Quatre's suspicions; Usagi was hurt, he just didn't know how bad, "Usagi, come over here." The tone brooked no argument.  
  
"Can't I just go to bed?" She was edging towards the exit. Trowa was moving slowly towards her from one side, Wufei was closing in from the other.  
  
**She's _definately_ hiding an injury if she's acting like this** Now he was more worried about Usagi, "No, come over here."  
  
"Shitshitshitshitshitshit_shit_." A faint silver glow lit up the area she was standing in. Usagi had just healed something.  
  
She took one unsteady step into the light. The shoulder of her shirt carried bloodstains, others also on her pant legs and hands. Her cheek bore traces of blood, and yet no mark was evident.  
  
Trowa took in her unsteady step, the pale skin, glazed eyes, blood on her shirt and face, and quickened his pace towards her. She didn't look too good, whatever she had just healed was obviously the straw that broke the camels back. Usagi seemed to realize it a fraction too late to do anything.  
  
"Uh-oh....Mi.." Her eyes fluttered shut and she slumped forwards.  
  
  
Trowa lunged the last few steps as the girl toppled, catching her just before her head hit the coffee table. Wufei wasn't far behind him and helped Trowa arrange the girl into a more comfortable position in his arms before going back to Duo's embrace looking mildly shaken. [4]  
  
Trowa checked her over quickly, "She's okay, just exhausted."  
  
Minako whirled angrily on her brother and launched into what would prove to be a very long tirade - a rather interesting phenomena when you took into account the fact that her lips did not move for the next twenty or so minutes.  
  
~~DAMNIT YOU INSENSITIVE _IDIOT_!!! She's already healed a heap of people tonight _including_ half of our friends, some of us were hurt _BAD_ she'd _already_ used up all of her reserves! She has had a truckload of sugar and she _still_ won't be recovered until next WEEK!~~  
  
Wufei raised an eyebrow, **Where the heck _were_ they?**  
  
~~That's _none_ of your business _Chang_. 30, you should _know_ she thinks of others first and herself last! She'd drain _all_ her energy helping people if she could! She's done it before and she'll do it again! 30 no BAKA!!!~~  
  
She ranted at her brother and his friends for some time, she probably would have gone on longer but she was stopped short when the door burst open and Haruka stormed in. Following closely behind her was everybody else - _including_ a small group of confused looking Manguanacs, led by a frantic Abdul with a worried Rashid bringing up the rear.  
  
Spotting Usagi in Trowa's arms, Haruka made a beeline for him, shooting questions faster than anyone present could answer them, "What happened? She was _fine_ when she left us. She _swore_ she was fine, that little _baka_ I'm gonna wring her... Is she standing? No that's a stupid question, of course she's not, I can see her lying there. How bad is she _this_ time?"  
  
Hotaru was close on her heels, scampering over to where her princess was lying, "She is still breathing, isn't she Trowa-jisan?"  
  
"She is 'Taru"." Trowa would have run his fingers through the girls bangs in a calming gesture, but he had his hands full.  
  
Hotaru nodded once and scampered over to her other uncle, clambering into his lap and giving him a reassuring hug. She looked over the rest of the group, Duo-niichan was holding Wufei-niisan and the rest of the Senshi were throwing worried looks at Usagi. She was afraid that they might have given the Manguanacs on guard duty a bit of a fright. She'd seen some of them, like Makoto and Rei, jumping the fence in their hurry to get inside. It wouldn't be so bad if the fence wasn't something like ten feet high, and they'd cleared it with plenty of room to spare.  
  
Michiru let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding, "Thank God for that!"  
  
"Indeed". Intoned Setsuna from behind the couch and Hotaru - exactly _how_ she'd managed to get over there was anyone's guess, nobody had seen her come in. "None of us wish to go through _that_ again."  
  
All the women present and one little girl gave emphatic affirmative nods, it wasn't a pleasant thing to see your princess lying dead at your feet, let alone to have seen it happen numerous times.  
  
"_Again_?" Quatre whimpered, going paler by the second, he wasn't sure if he _really_ wanted to know.  
  
Everybody else ignored him but Hotaru gave him another hug, "It's okay Quatre-jisan. She was fine once Haruka-papa got her breathing again." If anything he only looked more horrified.  
  
Minako was looking around the room in confusion, "I didn't call any of you, how'd you know what happened?"  
  
Haruka's lips twitched, "You were broadcasting _slightly_."  
  
"That loud was _slightly_?!" Makoto shrieked as she collapsed against the nearest wall rubbing her temples, wincing.  
  
"Wait until she gets _really_ mad."  
  
Minako looked between the two, blushing furiously, "I guess I was broadcasting.... Oops." She had the decency to at least look sheepish, "I gotta work on that."  
  
"I'll say," slurred Usagi from Trowa's arms, "I was asleep and you _still_ gave me a headache!" She cracked one eye open to glare at her sister, "You're _loud_ Mi."  
  
There was an almost audible sigh of relief from everyone present. It sounded like she was going to be okay.  
  
"Usagi-hime, the healing gave you the headache, not Mina-san."  
  
"I know that 'Taru," She snuggled further into Trowa's arms. For such a skinny guy, he was _really_ cuddly, "It's just easier to blame Mi. She _was_ wailing like a bansidhe," *~yawn~* "G'night."  
  
Usagi passed out again, this time though there was a less panicked response. She was simply sleeping - and drooling on Trowa. With that fear relieved, the Senshi and pilots turned their attentions towards Minako, who was beginning to fidget under all the attention.  
  
"Since _when_ were you a broadcasting telepath?" Ami had her Mercury computer out scanning the blonde even before she had a chance to respond.  
  
Heero arched an eyebrow. From his vantage point he could see the symbol on the small, hand-held computer's lid. He made a mental note to find out what it stood for when he got up to his room. He was pretty sure what it was, he'd seen that computer before. Things were beginning to make a vague sort of sense.  
  
"Um..." Minako gave a sheepish grin and began to rub the back of her neck, "Generally I'm restricted to other family members with abilities, but I guess that changed, ne?"  
  
Duo snorted and rubbed his temples, his head was really sore - at least now he knew he wasn't going crazy, he hadn't known what to think when Minako began screeching without even opening her mouth, "Girl, I'm no family member and I heard it. I well and truly heard it. That was _loud_!! Panadol anyone?"  
  
A chorus of 'yes please' sent one of the harried Manguanacs - who had been giving Usagi and Minako's friends odd looks since they had arrived - on the hunt for the painkiller and some water.  
  
Quatre looked over the head of the now sleeping Hotaru in his lap and gave his sister a bemused look, "Mi, I think it's safe to say that your strength has improved, a _lot_!"  
  
"I'll say." Haruka laughed, "We've heard her loud and clear when we've been on tour... did I mention loud?"  
  
"Oops."  
  
They couldn't agree with Minako more.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
[1] M-chan winces: I do believe that I'm to be responsible for the side story regarding this but don't hold your breath OK.  
  
[2] From what I've been told The Artemis Sword that Venus has is covered in poison... a very deadly poison. M: TOTALLY deadly poison, no cure what so ever one nick and your gone - be very careful cleaning it Mi ^_^  
  
[3] Yes this will be another one of the fabled side-stories.  
  
[4] S: The last person I know of who passed out on Wu was Meiran, and she ended up dying. This kinda reminded him of that.  
  
  
-tbc- 


	10. Hit Me! I'm A Target!

S: GOMEN NASAI!!!!!!!!!!! I am soooooo sorry that this took this long to come out. Pretty much my fault. I've had relatives from hell, dancing started back up again and I've just switched schools so I've got to learn ALL the dances again, plot bunnies jumped up and bit me on the butt for a GW au fantasy story, I started writing something with another friend. Our video player kicked the bucket.... but that ended up being a good thing, we now have one with NTSC playback on a PAL tv. I've been after one of those all year! Next step, a DVD player. AND I've barely been home all holidays, I'm always going out somewhere. But here it is, the long awaited part 10.... and I'm having trouble reading my handwriting in places, weird.... **snicker**   
  
Faintly suntanned M-chan: huh, so we both had dead VCRs scary. I was at the coast for 2 weeks so even if shee-chan had been able to get this to me i wouldnt have been able to get it back... i just got it off to her in time anyway. Buuut i think you'll appreciate this chapter ^__^.  
  
Okay, we've been asked - quite a few time now actually - where we get our ideas from, and how we come up with some of this stuff.   
  
The idea was originally M-chan's. We were sitting in her dorm room at Uni one day in between classes - talking about random anime stuff - when the question came up " Who do you think Usagi, Minako and Haruka look like?" ....Quatre, and it spread from there. The actual writing of the story didn't start until a week or so later when M-chan slept over my place (we drove my parents up the wall **snicker**). From there we spent quite a few Wednesday afternoons (with me occasionally skipping my Australian History tutes..... oops -_-;;) and Tuesday afternoons planning out the bare bones of parts.   
  
As for where we get our ideas, well anybody who knows us will tell you that we're naturally crazy - the two of us together can be deadly **snicker**. Our ideas usually come from lengthy discussions along the lines of "how would _____ react to ______ in ______ situation". I swear the people in M-chan's dorm house think we're on something, half the time we're giggling and laughing like crazy.   
  
Sometimes an idea will hit us at random. I've lost track of the number of times I've started snickering on the train, or in the bus on the way into Uni, and I can remember M-chan saying she's been hit with an idea during class and had to hold back laughter. M: Some of my classes were _way_ too boring last year.  
  
Sometimes our families, friends and the people around us in general inspire us, as well as other fanfiction and books. If they do or say something weird, we make note of it, if we think it's good enough we'll add it in if it works.   
  
Anyway I've rambled enough. It's time to get on with the fic.   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
HIDDEN BLOODLINES PART 10: HIT ME! I'M A TARGET!  
  
The boys were flustered - there was no other way to put it... well there probably was, but anyway. Flustered was usually not a word one associated with the Gundam pilots, five of the most dangerous teens in the Solar System, but it is what they were - and it was all Quatre's   
sister's fault!   
  
Their normal monthly debriefing had been anything but, with Une looking slightly harried, and Sally not bothering to chase them around with instruments of alien torture; well that's what Duo called them, he just didn't like needles too much - rather strange considering he usually _liked_ sharp pointy objects, and explosives.   
  
They had a mission... it was just a pity nothing was going to plan.   
  
Currently they were waiting for Quatre's sisters to get home - an extremely common occurrence that was fast turning into a male bonding session. Today they were later than usual, much later, and they hadn't pulled one of their disappearing acts for a few days. Quatre appeared far more anxious than usual. He had been pacing for the last hour or so, throwing worried looks at the study door and massaging the area near his heart for the last hour or so, and no amount of coaxing would get him to sit down - he was starting to make the other boys dizzy.   
  
The five of them looked up sharply as the study door slammed open. Blonde sister: check, the one they were after: negative, it wasn't one of the two sisters they were waiting to chew out. It was just Haruka, a slightly stressed looking Haruka, but Haruka none the less.   
  
Her eyes swept the room as she quickly stalked over to where Quatre was standing, if she was any tenser she would snap in half, "Where are they?"   
  
Duo rolled his eyes at what appeared, to him, to be an overreaction, "Don't sweat it! They _always_ disappear."   
  
Haruka turned, gave a contemptuous sniff, and turned back to her brother - who was starting to look even more worried, if that was possible, "Can you sense _either_ of them? 'Cause at the moment I'm getting nothing from the wind and they're not answering their communicators."   
  
Now it wasn't only the Winner siblings who were worried, the rest of the pilots were starting to become concerned - they had _never_ seen Haruka like this before, it just wasn't like her... then the end of her sentence sunk in.   
  
"They have communicators," Heero stated. It was not a question. His tone was flat, as was his voice, and the others found themselves unconsciously mimicking him.   
  
**K'so** Haruka cringed at her slip up.   
  
"Having their communicator frequency," said Wufei in a dry tired tone, "Would have been much easier than chasing them all over the city."   
  
Haruka, still cursing her slip, cringed and did a surprisingly good imitation of Minako or Usagi when they were trying to avoid a subject, "The frequency... well, uh... it can't be picked up by normal means... as such... heh heh." She sweatdropped slightly and almost kissed the vidphone when it started to beep, saving her from further interrogation.   
  
Quatre, who didn't know whether to be angry or alarmed leapt to answer it, hoping that it would be one of the girls. Unfortunately he did not get his wish, it was a blonde though; Zechs was on the other end of the line, holding a piece of paper and looking rather uncomfortable.   
  
"Ahh, Quatre. Good. You haven't left yet. We have an... interesting not here that might concern you - regarding your sisters."   
  
Both Haruka and Quatre tensed, **Not good**   
  
Quatre quickly leant towards the screen, "Which ones?" he demanded.   
  
Zechs frowned down at the note and angled it around to try and see it better in the light, muttering to himself. Quatre fidgeted while Haruka looked ready to reach through the phone and throttle the long haired man.   
  
"If I read the handwriting correctly - it's worse than Sally's... the youngest ones."   
  
He blinked as Quatre was literally thrown off-screen. An angry blonde replaced him, glaring fiercely, "Where are they? And who the _hell_ are you?!"   
  
Zechs gave the blonde, who looked a little like Quatre, a quick once over, **Guy or girl???** He raised one aristocratic eyebrow, and coolly answered the question with a question, "Who might you be?"   
  
Quatre reappeared on screen as he manhandled his sister out of the way, " 'Ruka, intro's later," With one last shove Haruka disappeared from the screen. Turning one of his fiercest stares on Zechs he tersely stated, "Talk. _NOW_."   
  
**Ahh, Girl. Winner girl. The one who disappeared if I'm not mistaken** "Your current mission has been put on hold, this has been given a higher priority," Zechs began, "Some ex-OZ extremists have taken the two youngest Winner females captive. The Winner family is one of the more influential in the UNESA and they may attempt to use that to their advantage. I think it would be easier if I sent the details to Heero's laptop." Quatre's glare was really beginning to unsettle the platinum blonde, "Go get your sisters Quatre." ~*Click*~   
  
Haruka was storming around the room, her expression decidedly ominous. An unfelt wind was whipping her hair about - and all of the loose paper in the room, the boys pitied whoever had to clean up - and her eyes were flashing like lightning, "Those bastards are goin' down!"   
  
Quatre looked at his older sister with concern - not for her though, the last time she'd been this mad they had to refurbish the entire room, her abilities had probably grown stronger since then and he didn't feel like fixing the entire wing, "We're going to get them back 'Ruka," he said placating and gestured to his fellow pilots.   
  
Haruka didn't feel very comforted, not that surprising really - every time Usagi got kidnapped bad things had a habit of happening. **If we knew where they were we could teleport in and get them, but if they don't have their henshin wands we won't be able to find them... and we won't be able to teleport them out if they're unconscious. _DAMN_!!** Drawing her Space Sword in frustration she turned to the pilots, "Of course you are, and I'm coming with you!" [1] She knew, even before Heero spoke up, that this was out of the Sailor Senshi's league.   
  
"_We_ will get them back, we're far more qualified. You would only be a liability."   
  
Haruka winced, did he have to be so blunt about it? **I _could_ help, but then again our fuku's are sort of a 'Hit me! I'm a target!' sign [2]. Damn this! I'll just have to make sure everyone is prepared if we're needed**   
  
She stormed from the room, tossing her sword from hand to hand, muttering to herself about Setsuna keeping secrets, would Michiru's mirror be _any_ help at all, and how to keep Hotaru under control.   
  
  
The pilots watched her storm out of the room, to any one of Usagi's friends Haruka's mutterings would have made perfect sense, but it just confused the boys, though the last comment had made some sense.   
  
Duo turned to Quatre with a raised eyebrow, "Q, man, your sister has a sword... that she pulled from _nowhere_! Can everyone in your family do that? Can you do that? Did they teach Heero that, or did he teach them? Can I learn? It's not FAIR!!!" he pouted, but his eyes were twinkling with suppressed mirth.   
  
As usual, when Duo was in one of those moods, Quatre ignored him, "Heero, do you have that information yet?" At Heero's affirmative nod he walked over to the laptop, "Let's get them back, we still have another mission to take care of."   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
Getting in to get Quatre's sisters had been easy, almost too easy, so easy it was almost guaranteed that something was going to go wrong. And something did. It was only a minor, tinsy wincy little problem, barely worth mentioning really... their escape route was cut off.   
  
Duo was casting his eyes about frantically for an escape, he spotted something that could be of some use, "Guys, there's a garbage chute, we could escape through that."   
  
"Duo!" Wufei looked horrified, "The last time we did that it wasn't a garbage chute, it was an _incinerator_!"   
  
"But Wu, you put garbage in it! How was _I_ supposed to know? It worked in Star Wars!"   
  
"Just shoot!!!"   
  
The girls barely noticed the exchange between the two lovers, they were busy pestering their would-be rescuers - who were in turn trying to shoot the people intent on turning them into swiss cheese.   
  
Minako was trying to get _anyone's_ attention, **It would be good if Q would be good if Q would remember that both of us can shoot reasonably straight... I wonder if I have a gun in my subspace pocket? Let's see... food, hair tie, cat food, chocolate - I'll have to remember that for later - Artemis sword... well it's a weapon, just no use here. Where's my Henshin wand? Oh yeah, those weirdoes took it** "OI!! Didja remember to grab out stuff?"   
  
Wufei threw her a brief, incredulous glance over his shoulder, "You're worried about a broach, two watches and a pen at a time like _this_?!?"   
  
They had them of course, Quatre had been very adamant about picking them up --   
  
~~Q, IF THAT'S YOU, GET OUR STUFF OR DON'T BOTHER GETTING US~~   
  
He winced, she _really_ had to work on her volume, "Somebody grab their things, they'll want them back."   
  
Heero looked at him, "The mission was to get your sisters, _not_ retrieve their belongings."   
  
"Get them," Quatre looked resigned - and not quite there, Minako was obviously yelling at him again, "Or we'll be coming back for them, I can see it."   
  
~~DAMN RIGHT!!~~ They all heard that.   
  
Duo was the one to pick up the small pile of belongings on his way to the girls cell. ---   
  
Usagi sent her best glare to the back of the boys heads, "You have _no_ idea, Gimme that broach!"   
  
Duo paused to reload his gun, again, and tossed the broach and the yellow watch to her. To Minako he tossed the pink watch and the yellow pen.   
  
Usagi looked at the watch for a moment and mentally shrugged, no need to comment about the colour - at least it was what she was after. Deftly, she flicked it open and hit the 'all call' button.   
  
It barely flashed once before an extremely irate Haruka appeared on the small screen, "Minako?... USAGI!!! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU PAIR?!!!"   
  
Usagi blink-blinked at this and then replied thoughtfully, "We decided to go sightseeing care of Wacko Tourist Company. I think Rubeus was their manager. Don't go anywhere with them, the service _sucks_. No in-house movies, complimentary drinks or peanuts or anything!"   
  
The small screen divided itself into several segments, "_USAGI_!!" Rei growled.   
  
Usagi rolled her eyes, they really needed to work on their sense of humour. She shrugged, "Well they were weird enough, and the service _did_ suck."   
  
An assortment of growls and groans issued from the communicators speakers. while they were not amused by Usagi's flippant attitude, they were relieved at the same time, if she was cracking jokes things couldn't be too bad. Right?   
  
Ami was the first person to notice something wasn't right, "Usagi-chan, why can I hear gunfire?"   
  
The Senshi stopped to listen, then frowned expectantly at their princess.   
  
Usagi glanced sideways at Minako, who simply shrugged - no help was obviously going to come from that corner, and then back to the communicator, "Because people are shooting at us." It was a simple answer and straight to the point.   
  
The Senshi nodded, it was a perfectly logical answer really, given what they could hear, it made sense. They froze.   
  
"_WHAT_?!?"   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
Trowa glanced over to where the two sisters were huddled and frowned slightly at the sight, "Uhh, Quatre, Usagi is having an animated conversation with her watch."   
  
Quatre shrugged. They were his sisters, nothing much about them phased him anymore, "So, she talks to her cat too, so does Minako for that matter. I've seen her having a conversation with the fridge, the television... and she beats up her computer occasionally.[3]"   
  
Duo overheard the two and glanced over at the sisters, "Yeah, but the cats answer back."   
  
"That's beside the point," Quatre hadn't really been paying attention, then what Duo said sunk in, "What?!" He stopped what he was doing to turn and stare at Duo, remembering to take cover after a bullet hit close to his head.   
  
Duo chuckled and shook his head, snapping off a quick shot at the idiots shooting at them - their aim was worse than that of an Imperial Stormtrooper [4]. **So he _didn't_ know about that** "Just remind me to tell you about it one day." He put a new clip in his gun and swore vehemently, "Damn, I think we've contracted Trowa's disease."   
  
Both Trowa and Quatre looked at him curiously, "What?"   
  
He gave a cheeky grin as he turned back around, "We're running out of bullets."   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
Usagi glared down at Minako's communicator, by the sound of the things going on around them they needed out, and they needed out _fast_. **If the others can teleport themselves here I can supply enough energy to get us out of here. I think**   
  
"Just teleport yourselves here yesterday!" When no-one appeared to move she barked, "Now!" A bullet impacted just above her head, spattering her with dust and shrapnel, "CHIK'SO."   
  
_That_ snapped the Senshi out of their stupor, their princess and closest friend was in danger, "We'll be right there."   
  
Minako cringed, that was too close a call her sister had just had, "Usagi, would you get _down_!" Spinning towards the door she shoved Heero behind it, "Shut the door."   
  
Trowa looked at the double reinforced, 4 inch thick steel door and then back at Minako, "We will be trapped."   
  
"Believe me," Usagi snorted, "That's going to be the least of our troubles. Now would somebody please SHUT THE BLOODY DOOR?!"   
  
The voice was powerful and commanding, they had to suppress the urge to salute as they re-shut the door.   
  
Minako waved to a corner of the room, "Everyone into the corner."   
  
Wufei looked at the girls, usually you did _not_ open a prison cell just to lock yourselves back inside. The aim was to get _outside_ and away from the prison, "_Onna_, we want to go _that_ way," he pointed out the now closed and barricaded door, "Not trap ourselves inside."   
  
Minako gave him an odd look, it made him feel like there was something he was missing - but what it was he would not have a clue, "It's not that we don't enjoy your lovely company Fuwei," she began, mixing up his name on purpose, "But those uninvited guests you bought with you are not so nice."   
  
Usagi could see this degenerating very quickly into a knock-down-drag-out argument [5]. Grabbing the boys before it could get any worse, she pushed them into the corner, "Get in the corner or you'll get squooshed... it won't be pretty." **Not to mention what the magic field   
might do** [6].   
  
As everyone was jammed into the corner Heero looked at Usagi, suspicion clearly evident in his eyes, "Squooshed by _what_ exactly?"   
  
Usagi managed to look both smug and uncomfortable at the same time, "Uhhh... you'll see."   
  
Heero stared at her, almost at glare intensity making her feel even more uncomfortable, and muttered half to himself, "I don't _like_ those answers, it's almost as bad as 'trust me'." [7]   
  
Bright sparkly lights filled the center of the room. Seven Sailor Senshi appeared and slumped to the ground groaning.   
  
Duo glanced at the group before him with more than a little trepidation, the history between the Gundam pilots and the Sailor Senshi wasn't exactly what you could call friendly. Actually he got the feeling that they didn't like them helping them out very much at all, "Oh _goody_. Do we get to be soaked, electrified, frozen or fried today? Or are you going for a bit of variety and try to blow us into walls?" He'd seen that happen to the Senshi a couple of time and it looked painful.  
  
Jupiter looked up from the floor where she had slumped and glared at the long haired Gundam pilot who, as far as she was concerned, had _far_ too much energy, "Shut up, Duo." She looked at the other Shenshi, who were in similar positions, "Well that was _fun_. Let's not do it again."   
  
The Senshi were beginning to compose themselves, teleporting without their full compliment was draining. The pilots were trying to figure out what the Senshi were doing there. The people outside had given up on trying to open the door by conventional methods and seemed to have found something to use as a battering ram if the constant thumping was anything to go by.   
  
Uranus looked up from where she was sitting, "They need a new interior decorator," She muttered, then swore at herself for spending too much time with her little sisters before turning her gaze on the two un-transformed females in the room, "Don't meant to rush you or anything, but can you pair transform so we can get the hell out of here before your friends out there get in?"   
  
There was only one possible conclusion to be drawn from this statement, and a brief glance at the Senshi confirmed that there was two missing. All five boys came to it, then some discarded it, there was no possible way that it was true, was there? All of them went into various states of surprise as the two girls became engulfed in bright flashy lights and emerged as Sailors Cosmos and Venus.   
  
Cosmos Quickly began pushing everyone into the centre of the room as the door began to shake on its' hinges, "Everyone who wants out in the middle please."   
  
Quatre's brain had temporarily short-circuited, it had shut down as his sisters began transforming, "But you just said to get in the corner."   
  
Uranus snorted at him as the banging on the door got louder, "We an argue about this at home. Get your butts in gear and get in the circle, that means you 30."   
  
The use of his sisters favourite nickname snapped him back to reality, " 'Ruka?!?"   
  
"Later 30. Everyone ready?"   
  
"No."  
  
Mars rolled her eyes, "You don't count, Duo. You're just baggage."   
  
Duo drew himself up with mock indignence, "Oh, so now we've been..."   
  
Bright lights filled the room.   
  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   
  
The Manguanacs who were unlucky enough to have training duty in the arena started as it filled with bright sparkly lights. Had the origins of the lights been paying any attention they would have found themselves with a variety of weapons pointed at them for a brief moment.   
  
"...reduced to baggage have we?!" Duo glanced around, "Oh, fast trip. Can we go _anywhere_ with this?" He smirked at the thought. The possibilities were endless, especially for an ex-theif and practical joker extraordanaire.   
  
The Manguanacs relaxed. It was just the Sailor Senshi with the Gundam pilots. The did a double take. Sailor Senshi and Gundam pilots? Last time they had checked the two groups had not been getting on too well.   
  
Deciding that Rashid could deal with it, they returned to their practice - but they each kept an ear on the proceedings.   
  
Quatre looked around the circle trying to see if he could place any of the other Senshi; it wasn't working. He wished he and the other pilots didn't have to leave as soon as they had picked up some more ammunition for their guns, "You have a _lot_ of explaining to do when we get back Usagi, Minako."   
  
Two of the younger Senshi, Venus and the leader Cosmos if the Manguanacs had it right, nodded miserably.   
  
Venus decided that she wasn't going to go down without a fight, "What about Haruka?!" If they were going down, they were _all_ going down. The Winner females were going to face their little brother together - safety in numbers and all of that.   
  
Uranus, the Manguanacs identified, looked at the Senshi of love, horrified, "'30 knows better." There was a slightly desperate note to her voice, "Don't bring me into this!"   
  
The Manguanacs weren't paying attention to this because they were interested, no definitely not - well not completely anyway. Captain Rashid would want _all_ the details later. Especially since Quatre-sama had left to rescue his sisters without them... again.   
  
Quatre turned his... _slightly_ upset gaze on the Outer Senshi of Uranus, "Too late," He stated. His voice was cold, he was obviously _not_ happy with the turn of events, "I want you _all_ here when I get back, understood?"   
  
Uranus glared at Cosmos and Venus, she was _not_ impressed with this turn of events, "Gee, _thanks_ you pair."   
  
They gave her a weak smile.   
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
-tbc-.   
  
[1] S: ^_^ Don't you just love Samwise Gamgee.   
[2] M: Yes. I like Mercedes Lackey   
[3] M: I do that ^_^ and i _swear_ it's not my fault it's broken again.... why does noone believe me?  
[4] S: Seriously, who here has seen Star Wars? How bad is their aim?   
[5] S: Been in a couple of these... not fun, they can get nasty.   
[6] S: If you've ever watched the Sailor Senshi teleport they crack the concrete _and_ put a _HUGE_ dint in it. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to get caught in it.   
[7] M: And David Eddings 


	11. Oh Christmas Tree!

Hidden Bloodlines Part 11: Oh Christmas tree!!  
  
S: Gomen! My fault this part took so long to come out. Please don't kill me. Okay anyone who is on our mailing list (if you wanna join just email us at mchan_sheechan@go.com ) will probably remember that little teaser we put out some time ago and told you to guess the mystery blonde. Guess what! He's finally here! ^_^ This bit was fun to write!  
  
Sorry again that this took so long to come out, there are far too many   
distractions in this world! (Like blonde Elves **drool**)   
  
M: I'll take part of the blame for this being late - not much but some. Shee-chan n I study at different uni's now so we don't get to meet up as often as we used to (apron. Once a month as apposed to twice a week at least -_-!) so it's harder to get these out. I also went home for Easter break then when I did get this I had two group assignments due (S: I had a couple due as well. One for Ancient Egypt on Hatshepsut...I got a High Distinction YIPPEEEE).   
However. I do have a side story done! It needs to go through a couple of revisions and Shee-chan has to check it over but it will be out soonish. I hope. I was sposed to send this to shee-chan last night but being absolutely _TANKED_ i thought i would have stuffed it up more if i had soooo it's another day later than it should have been forgive me onegai ^_^  
S: And I started a Side-story the other day, that should be coming out in a couple of months (judging by how long the last one took me to write)  
  
By the way we LOVE reviews and email!!!!!!!  
  
On with the story. finally!!!!!!!!  
  
[Conversations in Gundams]  
  
==================================================================  
  
Conversation was kept to a bare minimum as the pilots prepared for their mission - after all what could be said? Most of the pilots were still in shock, or vastly unhappy over what they had discovered.  
  
The Gundams were required; they'd been hidden down in the estates _rather_ large hanger - Quatre _still_ hadn't worked out what it was there for but he was grateful for it.  
  
It was hoped that the sight of five Gundams on the way to stomp them flat would shake the enemy up just a little. or at least make them extremely nervous. Duo had taken to calling it 'Mission: Overkill' and his fellow pilots agreed with him.  
  
It really was a simple mission- go in, get the hostage / experiment victim, read the jerks their rites, get out and make like the fourth of July. The powers that be - also known as Une, had decided that leaving the base in tact was too big of a risk. The boys were just following orders.  
  
Duo wasn't complaining, in fact he was extremely happy about that part of the orders, he hadn't blown up anything larger than part of the kitchen in far too long, Fatima still hadn't forgiven him for that either. He had to admit though some of the chemistry experiments they were doing at the moment had potential.  
  
They were well on the way to their designated target before Quatre broke the com silence, even Duo wasn't' talking for once - not that he talked all the time, he slept didn't he? Usually he chatted to Wufei at least.  
  
"Three of my sisters are Sailor Senshi," Quatre's voice was slightly stilted and very chilly "Did anybody _know_ about this?"  
  
Quatre was calm, really he was. That wasn't steam coming out of his ears and that look didn't promise pain if anyone said 'yes' really it didn't.  
  
After a few of the other pilots were game enough to voice their negative responses Duo spoke up.  
  
[[I didn't know about your _sisters_ perse. But I knew that their cats weren't exactly normal. You don't call talking normal do you?]]  
  
From the various looks he got he decided that it was a unanimous 'no' and expanding on that statement might be a good idea.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
2-3 weeks previously  
  
"Coffee." Duo staggered into the kitchen making a beeline for the sacred coffee machine - worshipped by most people living on the Winner estate. Especially the Manguanacs assigned to guarding Minako and Usagi.  
  
"CoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffeeCOFFEE!!!"  
  
It had been a rough night. Scratch that. The day before had been harsh then _it_ had been followed by a rough night. Duo didn't care if he was late for school today he was going. To. Get. His. Coffee!!  
  
Yesterday had started off with Fatima's _lovely_ version of a wake up call. He had a feeling she was still a bit ticked off with the. little explosion in her kitchen the other day. He knew he was a cheerful person but he was not a morning person. As far as he was concerned 6 o'clock only happened in the evenings thank you very much. But Fatima! That woman was _far_ too cheerful during those non-existent and far too early hours of the morning - so was Rashid for that matter. Duo had discovered the perils of ignoring Fatima's wake up call, he was glad he didn't live on the same side of the house as Usagi and Minako but being tipped out of bed - literally - was not his idea of fun, well not for a wakeup call anyway. Of course Wufei had thought it was hilarious but he hadn't been in bed had he, no he'd gotten up to do katas _earlier_. Duo shuddered at the thought of getting up that early voluntarily.  
  
Then on top of all that he'd almost run late for school - not that it really mattered but he'd missed his cup of coffee. Let's just say he wasn't a happy camper and leave it at that.  
  
_Then_ Haruna-sensei had thrown a pop quiz, that woman was _evil_! He'd had such a busy day at school it wasn't funny and he didn't even   
want to think about the hoard of girls who'd chased him at lunch. And he thought _Heero_ attracted psychos! Some of the girls at that school were scarier than the thought of Dorothy on the Zero system - or Usagi and Minako in a mall with unlimited credit cards.  
  
The evil beings known as 'teachers' who should have been called 'evil, mean and nasty torturers determined to make life miserable' had assigned a _pile_ of homework he'd had to plow through taking up most of the evening. Then, to top it all off, just as he was getting ready to settle down for bed with Wu Heero had come bursting in to tell them the Senshi had been spotted in the city.  
  
As a result they'd spent half the night chasing the mini-skirted super hero's all over Juuban. At least he'd only been knocked into one wall by Pluto - that woman was far too slaphappy with that key thing of hers. However he had managed to miss being turned into a Popsicle and had made quite a few large dents in various Youma.  
  
He was _definitely_ looking forward to hi coffee this morning - he didn't care if he was late - detention was worth it. Shinigami help anyone who got between him and his coffee - they'd end up wishing for a visit from Him.  
  
Then banging of the cat-flap alerted him to the arrival of either Usagi's or Minako's cats, Luna and Artemis. There was something _very_ strange about those two felines - their responses seemed too intelligent. Sometimes he could _swear_ they were almost human. He'd spoken to Trowa about it but he'd just shrugged and said that cats were highly intelligent anyway.  
  
He shifted his focus away from the coffee machine that was refusing to yield his potion yet in time to see Luna stagger into the side of a table and then bounce back and glare at it for having the gall to be in her way. Duo snickered, it seemed he wasn't the only being in the house who was _that_ tired, "Morning Luna!"  
  
He really wasn't expecting much in the way of a reply, a meow at the most, which is why he dropped the empty mug he'd been waiting to fill when he got one.  
  
"Morning Duo."  
  
Luna froze for a moment then tried to dash from the room.  
  
Duo may have been tired but he was still faster. He caught her within two strides and lifter her up to eye level hands beneath her front legs and keeping her out of striking range.  
  
"You spoke! Do it again!"  
  
"Meow??" He hadn't realized that cats could look sheepish before now.  
  
"Nice try," he gave her a little shake "I'm not buying. Talk!!"  
  
They must have stared at each other for a full five minutes. Duo was grateful that no one came down in that time - they would have thought he was nuts. It was obvious he outstared Luna though, because she finally hung her head and with a sigh began to speak.  
  
"Please! Don't tell anyone else! It's very important that no one knows!"  
  
It had been an interesting conversation to say the least. He'd spoken to Artemis later that afternoon, he liked that cat he was quite a character.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
[[So that is what you meant by the cats answering back.]]  
  
[[Yep! I _told_ you there was something suss about those two but would you believe me nooooo. 'Cats are very intelligent Duo.' Well. I have something to say to you Trowa!]] Duo grinned impishly at the screen and blew a raspberry [[TOLD ya so!!]]  
  
Trowa merely arched an eyebrow; amusement twinkled in his visible eye.  
  
[[Ami is Mercury,]] Heero cut in before the conversation degenerated further, [[I was unsure of the others.]]  
  
Duo grinned [[I _knew_ there had to be another reason you were watching her!]]  
  
If Quatre didn't know better he would have sworn that he saw Heero blush faintly. Then again, maybe he did, Duo looked rather smug over _something_.  
  
Quatre was more than a little curious about how Heero had drawn this conclusion. He'd had no idea that Ami - quiet, sensible Ami - was the Sailor Senshi who loved to turn them into Pilot Popsicles.  
  
"And you know this _how_?"  
  
[[Same laptop.]]  
  
Duo started snickering [[You _would_ notice what sort of computer she was using wouldn't you?]] He chuckled, a teasing light entered his eyes, [[You like getting frozen by her don't you? I always thought you were a sucker for punishment!.]]  
  
Heero deigned not to answer but the glare and faint blush really said it all.  
  
Wufei decided to intervene before Wing Zero started powering up its beam cannon and he found himself short a boyfriend. [[I knew Rei was Mars from my previous visit. I have some suspicions about some of the others; a couple of those were confirmed today.]]  
  
Quatre was more than a little stunned. He prided himself on his observational skills yet he hadn't noticed _any_ of this. "And nobody thought to mention this while we cased them all over the city _why_ exactly?"  
  
Wufei had the decency to look slightly ashamed of himself, [[I was threatened with Boyfriend a la flambé if I mentioned it. or the fact that she's dating Yuuichiro]] You could see the faint smirk adorning his face [[And I didn't just say that.]]  
  
Heero was unperturbed by the cold stare Quatre was giving him [[I wanted to discover the rest of their identities before I reported.]]  
  
Duo snorted [[You would,]] he was, however, unable to contain his curiosity. [[lemme guess. You made it a mission? Any ideas on the others?]] He had a few suspicions himself and he wanted to see if they matched the perfect soldiers.  
  
[[Unconfirmed.]]  
  
Now even Trowa was curious, [[Who do you suspect Heero?]]  
  
[[Hn. Most of the inner Senshi, as they call themselves are confirmed,]] he began to rattle off a list of names. A list of very familiar names. All of them were Usagi's best friends, [[Jupiter: Makoto, unconfirmed. Mars: Rei, confirmed. Mercury: Ami 99% confirmed. Cosmos: Usagi, confirmed. Venus: Minako, confirmed. Outer Senshi; one confirmed, one unconfirmed. Uranus: Haruka, confirmed. Neptune: Michiru, 90% confirmed.]]  
  
How could he have missed it? All Usagi's 'study-buddies' were sailor Senshi! "What about Pluto and Saturn? You didn't list any suspicions for them."  
  
[[No suspicions as of yet.]]  
  
[[Admit it Hee-chan you have no idea!]]  
  
[[Hnn.]]  
  
==================================================================  
  
Getting into the base had been relatively easy. Most of the personnel had taken one look at the approaching Gundams and fled - showing more common sense than most fanatics. The Preventor retinue that was following at a discrete distance had picked them up. The remaining base personnel had put up a small amount of resistance but, after Duo got inventive with some smoke and his speakers, they quickly surrendered. The Preventor retinue also picked up that group. Une wanted the base destroyed with no loss of life if at all possible.  
  
As they searched for the human hostages they planted the bombs. The only sign they had found so far were the scientific records and even those only suggested on person.  
  
Duo was the one to discover him. He was lying on the floor of one of the cells in the lower prison area, bleeding and all together not looking too good.  
  
"Jeez, they must have liked you as much as they used to like us. They sure did a number on you!" He turned and called back down he hallway to the others before cautiously entering the room.  
  
The blonde looked up from where he was lying, "It's the green blood," he cracked a crooked grin as he levered himself upward, wincing as he did so. "For some reason they found it rather interesting."  
  
Trowa blinked as he entered the cell to catch the last comment. Green blood? "Are you even human?" It didn't sound possible. The guy _looked_ human enough, shortish blonde hair, blue eyes and wearing the remains of what looked like a sort of grey uniform with a red trim but humans didn't have green blood.  
  
The blonde grinned disarmingly. Well. he tried to, he ended up wincing again as he pulled on some of his facial injuries. "Apparently I am again now. It turned red again. They found _that_ really interesting."  
  
He shuddered as he remembered some of the experiments that had been conducted on him after that. A lot of them had involved electricity and sharp pointy objects.  
  
"They kept trying to get it to go green again. On command. I am _not_ a set of those. what are they oh yeah. traffic lights _dammit_!" His face took on a dazed yet thoughtful expression.  
  
Upon closer inspection Heero noted that the blonde's eyes weren't quite focussed and that they had a slightly glazed look to them. He had obviously been drugged and whatever they'd given him was still running through his system.  
  
"Although." the crooked grin was back, this time accompanied with a twinkle of mischief in the glazed eyes, "I could be. On, off, on, off, on, off." He began to bounce his head from side to side in time with his chanting. He stopped and grimaced as the movement aggravated his   
extensive injuries, "Owwww. Whoa! Head-spin. interesting. Hang on! It hasn't turned orange yet! Damn. That blows that theory out of the water!"  
  
He sighed and turned his head towards Duo. The boys shoulders were shaking with suppressed laughter, tears were running down his cheeks. He found the blonde absolutely hilarious - you had to admire someone who managed to keep a sense of humour after all he'd been through - and he looked like he'd been through hell. The blonde turned his gaze to Wufei who looked like he was caught between the urge to laugh and the urge to worry about just what this guy was and what they'd given him.  
  
"Do you know anyone with orange blood?"  
  
Duo began to snicker. He hid his face between Wufei's shoulder blades to try and muffle the sound. Wufei threw the other pilots a long-suffering look before sighing and answering the odd question that had been posed to him. "I don't know anyone with green blood - let alone   
someone with orange!" Though he had noted that some Youma had greenish blood. Like that giant marshmallow... thing from last week.  
  
"You do now! I think. Anybody got something sharp so I can check?"  
  
They all blinked. He _had_ to be kidding. didn't he? It had been said with such a straight face though, it was hard to be _quite_ sure.  
  
Quatre shook himself out of the collective stupor first. They'd spent enough time just standing there, this guy needed medical attention, and possibly psychological too, and he wasn't going to get it lying here. It was well past time to blow this place- literally. He had some sisters waiting to be chewed out at home.  
  
"We're leaving now."  
  
"You're leaving?" the blonde looked almost sad. "Am I going or staying?"  
  
Duo looked at him over Wufei's shoulder, still snickering slightly. "Do you want to be inside or outside when this place goes '_boom_'?"  
  
The blonde seemed to contemplate the question quite seriously. The answer in the mission parameters said 'outside' and making Une unhappy had proved... unwise many times before, so the boys were really hoping for an 'outside' answer.  
  
"Is it more painful or less painful than being run over by a jumbo jet? That _hurts_!"  
  
Wufei felt Duo plant his face back between his shoulder blades, hard. He could hear the not so well muffled sound of his lover's laughter. Sighing he wondered, not for the first time, why he put up with this. "At a rough guess I think it would be _more_ painful."  
  
Quatre blinked furiously, run over by a jumbo jet!? How! The damn things only have one wheel at the front and two on either side. Getting stomped by a Gundam was more likely, but anyway. Couldn't you at least dodge! Really! Quatre decided that his brain had obviously had enough surprises for one day it was beginning to short circuit. he was starting to think like Minako!  
  
"More." The corners of Heero's lips were twitching slightly.  
  
Duo snorted and pulled his face from the back of Wufei's uniform to cast a wry grin at him. "And you'd know wouldn't you? Destructo boy."  
  
"Outside please! If it's not too much trouble for you, my teleportation is shot to hell!" the blonde seemed very cheery all of a sudden "I don't like pain!"  
  
Trowa made his way over to the injured ex-prisoner and, after checking him over for more serious injuries, picked him up carefully.  
  
"You know," The blonde began conversationally as he was lifted off the ground "If I bleed on you, you'll look like a Christmas tree. Red and green, and red and green, and red and green," his eyes were starting to glaze over again. "Maybe they thought I was Santa Claus, what with   
being at the North Pole and everything." He began to snicker, which quite quickly turned into hysterical giggling.  
  
Trowa merely arched an eyebrow at the running commentary as he walked towards the hanger where they'd parked their Gundams. There were some transports there that they'd.. appropriated for transporting the Gundams home in. There was no way a hostage would fit in the cockpit with one of them - those things were cramped enough as it was.  
  
Following along behind Trowa and his multi-coloured burden Wufei looked slightly alarmed. "I think he's a little stressed. I doubt he's had too much caffeine," he commented to Duo. Nope, definitely not too much caffeine, a) he wasn't quite talking a mile a minute (1) and b) the giggling didn't sound quite insane enough - though only just.  
  
Duo arched an eyebrow. "Well, if you'd been stuck in here for however long with only these jerks to talk to would you be stressed?"  
  
"Actually," Quatre joined the conversation "I think I'd be more insane than he seems to be."  
  
Duo waved a hand at the giggling blonde in front of them. Wufei caught it before it hit him in the face and tucked it in to his own, "My point exactly."  
  
The blonde, who had been babbling at Trowa the whole time, Trowa could stand it - after all Quatre was related to Usagi and Minako - raised his voice and the monologue travelled back down the hallway, "And I was trapped in that stupid crystal for three years. or was it four? It was three. Yep three uhhhh four, no three, four? Eenie, meanie, minie, mo." He began to quickly count on his fingers frowning when he didn't get the answer he wanted and couldn't come up with the same answer twice in a row. "If I didn't know better, I'd say someone stuffed up the timeline," he muttered half to himself but loud enough for everyone to hear. "Maybe it was Sailor Moon, she looked a _lot_ like 'Ren. Actually, I think she _was_ 'Ren."  
  
Heero blinked. Sailor Moon? A Senshi they hadn't encountered yet? Interesting. Then something else occurred to him, this guy knew the Sailor Senshi??  
  
"It might have been Pluto," the blonde continued to ramble. "She never did like me very much. Might've had something to do with Zoi n' me putting hair dye in her shampoo. But she looked so good with neon purple hair! Dark green is sooooo boring. it did clash with her eyes though, but I mean red eyes ick. She never _did_ like us much after that though. Loved to thwack us with that staffy thing of hers in practice. She can be such a bully!"  
  
Yep. He knew the Sailor Senshi. Pluto at the very least, all of them had been hit with that staff at one time or another, having a key shaped bruise on your forehead was slightly embarrassing.  
  
"You were stuck in a crystal?" Brushing aside the fact that he knew the Sailor Senshi that sounded strange. Then again since they'd all come to Juuban they'd seen a lot of strange things; Youma, Quatre's sisters - turning into Sailor Senshi of course, Umino - that boy was strange, he _still_ wouldn't leave Heero alone death glares just didn't work on him.  
  
The blonde nodded, "Yeah. It was soooo boring in there. No one to talk to nothing. Rocks aren't very good conversationalists, d'you know they wont' even talk telepathically? There were 6483 ½ stalagmites and 6483 stalactites in the room I was stuck in? Pretty for the first week but after that it got _really_ boring _very_ quickly."  
  
"Fascinating, I'm sure." Wufei cast the blonde a curious glance as he held open a door for Trowa. "Why were you in a crystal in the first place?"  
  
The blonde shuddered as he remembered just why he'd been there. "I sorta kinda pissed Beryl off. Note to self: pissing off Beryl is a _bad_ idea, a _really_ bad idea." He paused, thinking for a moment. "Hell! Beryl _existing_ is a bad thing! She was such a nice girl. You fall in love with an idiot, start worshiping a dark god type thingy and the universe goes straight to hell!" He sighed and turned slightly to face Trowa a worried look on his face, "Is Beryl still trying to take over the world? The appropriate answer here is 'no' please say 'no'."  
  
Trowa blinked at the fervent question, "Who's Beryl?"  
  
The blonde visibly relaxed for the first time since they'd walked through the door to his cell, "Oh _goody_!" and promptly passed out.  
  
Duo frowned slightly looking at the unconscious blonde, "He's gunna miss the kaboom!"  
  
Wufei placed a consoling hand on his shoulder, "There'll be other, Duo." **Especially since he's probably going to be living with us.**  
  
The two transports they had 'borrowed' were just where they left them in the hanger - always a good thing. Working quickly Trowa and Quatre moved their Gundams in and settled the blonde on one of the passenger seats. Heero and Wing had already left, minus a transport shuttle, but Wing had flight mode so that really didn't matter.  
  
Once ShenLong and DeathSythe were safely onboard their transport Duo grinned. "You wanna blow this sucker or should I?"  
  
Wufei tossed the detonator to his lover as he made his way to the cockpit. "How do you say it? Ah yes. Lets blow this pop stand." He quickly got the transport in the air and followed Trowa and Quatre away from the base.  
  
If it was at all possible Duo's grin grew larger. "Ryoukai! I knew there was a reason I loved you!"  
  
"You love me because I let you blow things up?" Wufei feigned hurt.  
  
**KABOOM**  
  
"That too." Duo smirked.  
  
==================================================================  
  
The explosion was loud enough to be heard in the passenger compartment   
in both transports.  
  
"Too much sulphur,"(2) came a mumbled statement from their semi-conscious blonde companion.  
  
Quatre and Trowa looked at each other and then at the blonde. He didn't look like he was going to say anything else. **Too much sulphur? Just what did this guy get up too? Neon purple hair and too much sulphur? Why do I think that life in Juuban just got a little more interesting.** Quatre decided he didn't really want to think about it, "Let's get home. I have some sisters I need to talk to."  
  
==================================================================  
  
Heero was staring out of his cockpit window pondering some of the things their delusional companion had said. The way he'd been talking he knew at least two of the Sailor Senshi, but one of them was unfamiliar to the pilot and that was. bothering him.  
  
**There's a Sailor Moon?**  
  
Why did he get the feeling there were more Sailor Senshi than the ones in Tokyo.  
  
==================================================================  
  
DEKITA!!!!!!!!!!  
  
(1) S: **grins evilly** I drank 2 litres of Diet Coke all by myself at a party on the weekend. Giggle** It's an hour and a half trip home and I talked the whole way. Fast. I didn't even repeat myself once. Pity my parents!  
  
(2) M: love David Eddings and this just fit soooo well. ^_^ 


	12. Will Somebody Give Me An Explanation!?

HIDDEN BLOODLINES PART 12: WILL SOMEBODY GIVE ME AN EXPLANATION?!  
  
*poke*poke* Is this thing working? *poke*poke*  
  
Okay. This was _supposed_ to be posted about a month ago... but then ff.net had one of it's seemingly regular brain-farts. Then it seemed to be working again. The day I went to post it ff.net went down. I've just been waiting for a little while to see if this place _stays_ up this time... so far so good.  
  
M: I'm going to apologize slightly for this not being out when it was s'posed to. I had it finished but not typed up.  
  
S: I'd read it at least ^_^  
  
M: Unfortunately for Shee-chan and I we just hit about week 12 at Uni.  
  
S: You're kidding?! It feels like I just started back again last week. Where the _heck_ did the semester go?  
  
M: This means we are currently being swamped with assignments and exams are only 2 weeks away at most -_-!  
  
S: Don't remind me! I had my drama performance or the 31st to the 2nd of June... It was FUN!!! Kathleen's sword shattered on the last night (we had this awesome sword fight choreographed that went well every night. First strike of the sword on the last night and the darn thing shattered.. We sorta looked at each other, screamed, and went in punching and kicking... we had to improvise somehow). I've got assignments, dancing comps and lessons _and_ I'm doing the Lions Miss Personality Quest this year. I'm starting to feel like Bilbo and I don't even have the One Ring!  
  
M: We are very busy indeed. I'm apologising simply because even though I've had 2 assignments and 2 exams I also had 2 parties ^_^ I had a good time though ~_^.  
  
S: And I went to the midnight screening of Star Wars ^_^ boy was that fun! And I took my Mum the other week.  
  
M: Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter and feedback is always appreciated.  
  
S: Speaking of feedback, sorry to anyone on the WufeiDuoyaoimL that I didn't get back to. I've got abut 60 or so emails sitting in my inbox I have to reply to (not all on the same thing) I just haven't had the time!  
  
M: Thanks to everyone who's helped us make it to over 300 reviews and to those people on our mini-alert list thingy (I've got to work out what to call that thing).  
  
S: You could call it Bob?... Now I'm just being silly. Sleep... need sleep...  
  
M: We still want you to review (hint hint ^_^) If anyone wants to join the list just email us at mchan_sheechan@go.com  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Usagi rolled over and grimaced. Exhaustion was threatening to pull her back into sleep but her stomach was maintaining that it was time to be fed, rather loudly, which meant that she _had_ to get up. Ignoring your stomach was _not_ something that you did, especially if you were a certain blonde, pigtailed Sailor Senshi by the name of Usagi.  
  
She groaned and slowly creaked her eyes open, one at a time, checking for rampaging brothers, Gundam Pilots - who could be just as scary, Manguanacs, Senshi, anything, only to be confronted with a room that was _far_ too bright for her liking. Her head felt a lot like the time the Sailor Senshi had celebrated the defeat of Chaos. Vaguely she wondered if the lecture she was going to get this time would in any way, shape, or form, resemble the one Luna had given her that morning.  
  
"You're awake!"  
  
Usagi blearily glared through her lashes at her overly chirpy sister. "Really. I would never have guessed." Minako winced, the sarcasm had fairly dripped off her voice.  
  
She gave Minako a quick once over. "I'm guessing, from the lack of injuries or mental scars, that 30 isn't home yet."  
  
Minako nodded rather thankfully, explaining things with Usagi still unconscious would have been... unpleasant to say the least. "Yeah, but from what I annoyed out of the hulking bodyguards hovering around our doors - and pouncing _every_ time I sneezed I might add - we have only an hour or so before we have to face the dancing." She pulled a face. " This isn't going to be fun. He's going to go spare [1]."  
  
Usagi winced as she crawled out of bed, imagining her little brother's reaction to just _what_ three of his sisters had spent the best part of the last four years doing... she didn't like what she saw. "Uhhhh, _don't_ remind me."  
  
Grabbing random clothes out of her closet she threw them over the camisole top and boxes she had been wearing. "Do you think that we can get away from this place before he gets back?"  
  
In the mirror she saw Minako pull a face and shake her head. "Not a chance. The Dorkymags are _everywhere_. I keep expecting to open up my closet to find one squished in there, smiling that _really_ annoying smile that they can get when they know they have you _right_ where they want you. Ami said she couldn't rig up a believable hologram image to make a fake message without 3 or 4 ours to spare and Rei thought burning down their barracks would be a bad idea, I think she was just scared of what they would do to her. Same with electrocuting the Dorkies, flooding the house... Setsa refused to stop time and I thought asking Hota-chan might have been a _little_ excessive, not much but a little. So... unless you feel up to teleporting us?" At Usagi's flat glare she sighed, it had been worth a shot. "That's what I thought. You hungry?"  
  
He stomach growled.  
  
Loudly.  
  
Snorting as she headed towards the door Usagi threw her sister another glare. "'Course I'm hungry! I supplied all the energy for that last 'port. None of you Senshi are lightweights you know. _And_ I had _five_ extra passengers. I'm not the Energizer Bunny you know!"  
  
Minako trotted after her, catching up in the hallway. "HEY! I resemble that remark! It's not _my_ fault that you decided to take a shortcut home and got us kidnapped. I _knew_ going home that way was a bad idea but _nooooo_ you didn't want to be late for dinner now did you?"  
  
The pair reached the stairwell, ignoring the lurking Manguanacs who started following them, at the front of the foyer and began the long descent - arguing all the way.  
  
"No." Usagi rolled her eyes. "Going home that way was my idea, I'll admit that, but only because we were running late. Why were we running late, Mi? Huh? It wouldn't have been because a certain sister of mine was busy flirting with a cute guy with blonde hair, gorgeous green eyes, and who happens to run the Crown Arcade now would it?"  
  
Two Manguanacs slipped off to inform Rashid of a few things... and to find out more on this blonde.  
  
Minako smiled sappily, hearts forming in her eyes. "He does have the most gorgeous eyes, doesn't he?"  
  
"Yes, he... " Usagi shook her head. "That's beside the point. It was your fault we were running late, so it's _your_ fault we got kidnapped by those bakayarou's, therefore, it's _your_ fault I'm so _hungry_! I sure as hell hope you told Fatima to bake me a chocolate cake, or by the moon..."  
  
The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted Usagi's tirade. The two sisters eyes snapped towards the foyer in unison, both blanched paper white at what , or more precisely _who_, they saw before them.  
  
"Oh _SHIT_!"  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Quatre sighed as their transport touched down gently in the hanger. It really said something when you felt safer helping blow a place to kingdom come, said place theoretically being full of people out for you blood, then going home and confronting your sisters about their choice of... extracurricular activities.  
  
Give him a mission any day, facing his sisters could be _scary_. **At least I guaranteed that they'd still be here when I got back.**  
  
He didn't like feeding his sisters false information but when it came to some things Quatre could be ruthless. Getting the Manguanacs to tell his sisters a slightly different ETA was really only a minor lie, a fib really, lying in absentina - It didn't stop him from feeling slightly guilty.  
  
On top of that he was worried about Usagi, last report he had received she still wasn't awake. Rashid had looked worried. Quatre didn't have any way of gauging how much energy her Senshi powers required but if it was anything like her healing powers she must have drained herself dry to teleport everyone out of that prison cell. He silently cursed her for her tendency to care about others before and then herself, pointedly ignoring the little voice in the back of his head claiming that he did it too - it was a family trait really.  
  
**Oh well, if she's not awake I'll talk to Haruka and Minako first - then get Sally to have a look at Usa... I hope she's all right.**  
  
Trowa headed back into the passenger cabin to retrieve their... travelling companion while Quatre completed the shut down and exited the shuttle.  
  
Waiting with the other pilots Quatre blinked as Trowa and their new 'friend' staggered down the gangplank. Trowa shot them a mildly amused look that clearly said 'He wanted to walk'.  
  
The small group slowly exited the hanger and made their way towards the house. The estate grounds had an unusual setup; from where the house was situated it was easiest to enter through the front door of the mansion - it made it harder to sneak in.  
  
As they slowly made their way up the driveway Heero examined the unsteady gait of their companion. "He needs medical attention."  
  
Wufei nodded in agreement as the blonde lurched to one side before Trowa caught him. "I'll call Sally once we arrive inside."  
  
Quatre nodded cordially to the Manguanac 'Manguanacing' the door, as Duo put it - it had something to do with looking intimidating while hulking, something they did well. He had just opened his mouth to enquire to the where abouts of his sisters when the voices echoing loudly around the marble encased foyer registered.  
  
"... told Fatima to bake me a chocolate cake or by the moon.."  
  
His sisters continued to argue as they reached the bottom step. A cursory glance eased some of his worries for Usagi's well-being, she was still too pale for his liking but at least she was up and about. He cleared his throat to gain the bickering pair's attention.  
  
Their heads snapped around to look in his direction, blanching white at the sight of the pilots - and their tag-a long - gathered in the foyer.  
  
"Oh _SHIT_"  
  
Quatre slowly raised an eyebrow, about to comment on their reaction, when their still _slightly_ drugged companion beat him to it.  
  
"Watch the language 'round the ladies boys!" He sounded remarkably like a drill sergeant - or Une with her glasses on. "Oh. Hang on, they were the ones being rude. Um... Now, what was the protocol for that one again? Was it 'Pretend you didn't hear', or was it 'Invite them back to the barracks and hold a swearing competition'?" Slapping his free hand into his forehead the blonde screwed up his face in concentration. "Think brain, think, or Kunz' will have your hide... again. Damn! I _hate_ protocol [2]."  
  
Usagi's eyes locked onto the rambling blonde, who was still going on about protocol and somebody called 'Kunzite', like Zero's targeting systems on OZ's mobile dolls. She frowned as her eyes went flat with rage. Looking slowly over the beat up man in front of her as she gave him her best death-glare.  
  
"Jedite."  
  
The quiet hiss echoed around the entry hall, her tone sounded deadly. With no fanfare, posing, or sparkly, multicoloured lights, Sailor Cosmos stood in Usagi's place - looking rather deadly for someone in a _very_ short skirt.  
  
'Jedite's' tirade paused in mid-word when he heard his name, ignoring, apparently, the way it had been said. "'Ren! Hey babe!" he gave her transformation a _very_ thorough examination. "Whoo! Nice! You sure grew. I think I prefer the other outfit though. What was it? Oh yeah, Sailor Moon. Very original, who thought of that? The skirt was a couple of inches shorter and it showed off your lovely legs _much_ better. Not that this outfit isn't just as nice," he looked her over again, "it reveals about the same amount I guess, but I _liked_ that skirt! Can I meet the uniform designer? I want to shake their hand."  
  
"The hair's cool too, makes you look like your Mum. By the way, what's got up your nose? You wouldn't hurt widdle old me now would you?" He tried to pull a puppy face.  
  
Everyone in the room was looking at him stunned. Cosmos had begun to stalk towards the man, her staff raised as she approached - Duo felt sorry for him, Cosmos was _very_ good a whacking people with that thing. Somewhere in his rambling something he had said stopped her dead. She was staring at him as if she had seen a ghost.  
  
Quatre looked just about ready to explode, that was his younger sister the blonde was talking about! Trowa, Duo and Wufei were watching in amusement. Trowa idly wondered who would kill Jedite first, his lover or Sailor Cosmos.  
  
Amazed that someone could put _both_ feet in his mouth that badly and _still_ keep talking, and digging his grave, Duo started to snicker. It looked like he had just found a new friend, if the blonde lived that long that was. Heero was just relieved that Sailor Moon and Sailor Cosmos were one in the same. It made things _that_ much simpler.  
  
A simple whisper broke through everyone's thoughts - and Jedite's rambling about short skirts, suggestive boots, and pointy red high heels.  
  
"Jed'?"  
  
The verbal diarrhoea stopped. The man in question gave a curious look to the silver clad Senshi in front of him. "Huh? Yeah, Sere-hime? What's wrong? Oh, and would you mind not telling Zoi' an' the others about me getting caught by those old geezers? They'd _never_ let me hear the end of it!"  
  
The Senshi of the Cosmos took an unconscious step towards the man who, for all she knew, had been dead - or as good as - since before the end of the Silver Millennium.  
  
"But Beryl..."  
  
Understanding dawned in the drug clouded blue eyes and he tilted his head slightly. "Oh, the mind control?" Seeing her dazed nod he continued. "Gone... mostly anyway. Being stuck in a crystal for... how ever long that was, did someone mess with time? Sure feels like it, gives you plenty of things to do with your mind and not so much to do with your hands, so..."  
  
He would have continued, really he would, but the princess he hadn't seen for over a millennia had reappeared before him.  
  
"Serenity."  
  
Tears sprang into those glorious blue eyes. Princess Serenity quickly closed the gap between the two of them, and embraced the long lost friend. Then, as the Ginzuishou appeared and blazed about their heads - making the pilots start and stare, she healed his injuries, both mental and physical.  
  
Once the bright glare, and associated spots, had dissipated from the vision of the onlooker's both the healer and healee could be seen sprawled on the marble floor, unconscious, for all intents and purposes embracing.  
  
"Usagi!!" Minako screamed as she jumped down the last few stairs and raced towards her sister. "Shit, shit! Shit! Damn her! Oh man, this is _so_ not good!"  
  
She was in the process of giving Usagi a quick examination, to make sure she was still breathing - and trying to ward of Quatre and the other pilots - when one of the doors connecting to the foyer slammed open, followed by a gust of wind. A frantic Haruka flew through the door. "What happened? I felt... KONEKO!!"  
  
Minako shot the enraged, and more than slightly worried, Outer Senshi a glare that clearly said 'And where were _you_ five minutes ago?'. "She's down but not out. The baka exhausted herself _again_."  
  
Haruka spun around, raking her formidable glare over the group in front of her, she growled. "All right. Which one of you idiots got hurt and let her see?" Her gaze finally rested back on the unconscious girl - and her also unconscious companion. "Who is _he_? Why do I recognise him?"  
  
While Haruka was using her eyes and virtual darts and the boys for target practice, successfully managing to make them keep their distance, Minako flicked open her communicator. Hitting two buttons she waited, not very patiently, for the two Inner Senshi to answer. **Come on, pick up, pick up, pick up, damn you!**  
  
The little screen finally showed a bisected picture and she sighed in relief. "About time! Ami, Rei, you pair bring your stuff over here. the boys are back and... I think you should see this."  
  
^~We felt the...~^ Ami began  
  
Minako cut her off nodding. "Yeah. I want you to check Usa over again too, please hurry!".  
  
**Click**  
  
She hung up before the girls had even finished promising to be there soon. turning back around found Haruka almost halfway up the stairs, Usagi in her arms, plus some of the Manguanacs - the ones still around, some of them had disappeared within the last few minutes. As she watched, Usagi began to struggle and whimper.  
  
**Oh SHIT! I had hoped I was wrong about that.**  
  
She quickly turned back to the confused boys still standing in the foyer, probably wondering what the hell was going on. Touching Trowa on the shoulder she gestured to the blonde lying on the floor. "You'd better take him up to Usa's room."  
  
Trowa shrugged, hefted the unconscious man over his shoulder and started up the stairs. Minako, Quatre - who was wringing his hands and looking _very_ worried, and the other boys followed along behind.  
  
Only Duo spoke. "I guess you don't have to call Sally now, hey Wu?"  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The second half of the group entered Usagi's room to be greeted with the sight of a frantic Haruka. she was trying to forcibly get Usagi to lay still.   
  
She wasn't succeeding.  
  
Minako let out and anguished groan at the sight and turned to the tall boy next to her. "You'd better put him on the bed as well, neither of them will rest properly until you do."  
  
Trowa gave an infinitesimally small shrug and, after nudging Haruka aside, unceremoniously unloaded his burden onto the bed.  
  
As the bed bounced with the extra weight Usagi's face transformed. A soft smile appeared and she quickly shifted towards, and snuggled up to, the bed's new inhabitant - who returned the favour.  
  
The pilots watched with interest as Haruka and Quatre acquired matching twitches. their hands were grasping at empty air as though they wanted to separate the two.  
  
Minako whimpered pitifully and dropped her face into her hands. "Not good. This is so not good." She gave the room a cursory glance, stood up, opened the rooms connecting door and called through it. "Luna, Artemis, get you butts in here! I want a second opinion."  
  
Two blurs, on black, one white, streaked into the room. "What's wrong? We felt the..." only to come screeching to a halt at the sight of the currently over-inhabited room. "Meow?"  
  
Artemis gave a small sigh, no wonder Duo caught Luna. "Forget it Luna. The girls got busted, and so did you for that matter. Remember?"  
  
Luna pulled a face at the smarty-pants.  
  
Four of the five Gundam pilots were staring at the cats in minor shock. Yes, Duo had told them the two could talk but still. Talking cats you really had to see to believe - especially when they spoke with _very_ English accents.  
  
By the time the pilots had recovered from their shock the pair of felines had woven their way through the group and leapt up onto the bed.  
  
"What happened to... YEROW!!" Luna jumped backwards; her hackles rising and tail puffing out like a toilet brush. She consequently fell off the bed backwards. From her position on the floor she commented rather acerbically. "That's JEDITE!!"  
  
Minako gave a small wince, trying not to giggle at Luna too much. "That's what I thought she said. Damn." She gave another sigh, this one leaning towards exasperation. "She used the crystal to heal him because her reserves are still tapped out."  
  
"The number of times she's died using that piece of overrated _rock_ you'd think she'd learn!" Haruka gave a disgusted snort. "Don't use it when you're exhausted. Hell! Don't use the stupid thing at _all_! It only causes too much trouble."  
  
Quatre made a choked sound - similar to the noise a mouse makes when you step on it. His eyes widened until the pools of aqua-blue filled his face. "Died?!". He was not hearing this, somebody tell him he was not hearing this. His sister had _died_? Multiple times? He had an insane urge to wrap his sister in his arms and hide her from the world - insane because Usagi would probably thump him into next week followed by a rather loud screech of '30 no _BAKA_'  
  
Both conscious sisters gave him a quick glance then, deciding that - for the moment - he was irrelevant, at least until he lost his temper, turned back to the objects of their attention.  
  
Luna leapt back up onto the bed, deciding to ignore her previous display of indignity - and thank her lucky stars that Usagi was out of it, she would never let her live that down had she been awake. Prowling around the heads of the sleeping... 'Couple' she sniffed carefully. Her feline eyes widened and she shot an unreadable look up to the fidgeting Minako, unreadable to the pilots at least - it appeared that the younger blonde female understood what it meant. "What has she _DONE_?!"  
  
The miserable look on Minako's face was very similar to the one that had been seen on Usagi's face the day Crown had run out of 'Death-by-Chocolate' ice-cream. It was very sad, as though all her worst dreams had come at once. "She's gone and bonded the two of them, hasn't she?"  
  
Haruka's eyes grew to nearly the same size as Quatre's had been earlier. Her jaw gaped wide and she opened and closed her mouth quite a few times before she managed to choke out a highly pitched, and not so calm, "WHAT?!?!"  
  
She didn't look very happy at all. Before she could... comment further on what her little sister had done a pair of thumps were heard from the balcony, heralding the arrival of a pair of rather confused Sailor Senshi. Both looked decidedly puzzled as they entered the room.  
  
"Guys?"  
  
"What's up?"  
  
Minako sighed in relief, now they could see if their suspicions were correct - and just how big a mess Usagi had created this time. Snapping back into her leadership role from the Silver Millennium she began giving orders. "Mars: see if he's got any evil in him, any at all. Mercury: I want you to scan him, full report required, the princess too."  
  
The pair nodded curtly and, frowning slightly, made their way past the crowd towards the bed - intent on examining the two figures entwined upon it. Minako didn't often give orders, you knew it was serious when she started to though.  
  
Mercury hadn't even engaged her visor when Mars, seemingly inexplicably, exploded in a fit of temper, demonstrating quite well just _why_ she was the chosen warrior of her planet.  
  
"THAT'S JEDITE!!!!"  
  
The world broadcast announcement was followed by an immediate preparation for a violent, and rather crispy, end to one of her most annoying enemies. Why couldn't the really annoying ones just _die_ when you _wanted_ them to? They were like cockroaches!  
  
The commander of the Sailor Senshi snapped into action before one of her warriors committed regicide and high treason. "MARS! Control yourself woman, that is you _princess_ lying there too! Fry him and you fry her, in more ways than one, show some control!"  
  
Mars snarled, flames in her ayes as well as her hands. Commander or not, treason or not, that _man_ had violated her temple, and if nothing else - and there were plenty of other things - he needed to be punished for that. "Yeah, Minako! Great! Yep, that's our princess all right, but why is the guy who tried his hardest to _kill_ us lying on the bed _next_ to her?"  
  
Mercury, while Mars had been displaying her temper, had engaged her visor, retrieved her computer from subspace, and begun scanning her friend and their former enemy. Letting out a choked gasp she quickly entered some data on the mini-laptop.  
  
"Chikuso!"  
  
The curse was only quietly uttered but it was enough to gather the attention of every conscious person in the room. The Senshi knew that Sailor Mercury _never_ usually swore - at least not in Japanese, she'd been known to get rather inventive in Mercurian before.  
  
Mars spun around and fixed her glare on Mercury. "WHAT?!" It was a good thing that looks didn't kill.  
  
After glancing at the miserable face of her commander she hesitated and then sighed. "Umm, the reason that she is on the bed, I mean, they... ahh.."  
  
Mars narrowed her eyes, Mercury also rarely babbled - she wasn't really sure if this was something she wanted to hear or not. "_What_??!!"  
  
Muttering a few additional curses, in a language that none of the pilots could place - though the Senshi recognised it, Mercurian. It sounded particularly nasty. Mercury took a fortifying breath. "They're bonded."  
  
Mars gaped, looking at Mercury in disbelief. The loss of her voice didn't last for long. She started deceptively slow, voice relatively calm, but by the end she was screaming at the top of her lungs.  
  
"Are you telling me that that Odango Atama has gone and _bonded_ herself to the man who tried to run us over with an _AEROPLANE_?!"  
  
Her tirade probably would have continued for much longer, with increasing volume too, except for a stunned comment from someone on the sidelines. "He tried to run _you_ over with the aeroplane?"  
  
It was ignored for the most part, barring the internal wincing from two of the Senshi - it sounded like Jedite had been talking, but Ami's manners required her to answer.  
  
"Well, yes, he _tried_. He missed. We thought he must have died but obviously Negaverse entities have more in common with household pests than we originally thought." [3]  
  
her explanation was interrupted by a groan from the bed followed by a disgruntled male voice. "By Selene you're _loud_ pyro. I'd forgotten what you sounded like when something got you all wound up."  
  
Mars spun to face the bed again, snarling as she retorted. "Like you can talk. You threatened to burn down the _entire_ city!"  
  
The blonde propped himself up on his elbows, being careful not to dislodge his sleeping princess, and snorted. "Yeah, but I didn't burn down the royal gardens in target practice. I _still_ haven't figured out how you did that, they were on the other side of the _palace_! You would have _had_ to throw an almost impossible curve to even _hit_ them! Zoi' and I spent months afterwards trying to figure out how you did it - Neph' and Kunz' joined in occasionally too, though usually it was to berate us for annoying you... stupid protocol. The target was only twenty metres in front of you! _Please_ tell me your aim has improved since then!"  
  
Mars glowered at the General. She tried her hardest to forget that incident, it hadn't been her best moment. She'd only been new to her powers, and still learning at that, but this _baka_ _always_ bought it up again when they were in large groups. "At least my princess is only a ditz and not a pansy boy who throws roses, spouts _bad_ poetry, and wouldn't know an inspirational speech if it jumped up and bit him on the _arse_!"  
  
Usagi had been hoping that the argument would finish so she could continue with her nap, and up until this point it looked like it was going to, but a comment like that deserved the most mature response possible.  
  
"REI! You're a _meanie_!!"  
  
The Senshi of Mars just rolled her eyes and continued her rant. "And I only burnt the gardens out _twice_ which is more than can be said for you Generals and your living quarters. I know for a fact that you destroyed at least... _shit_ _JED_!!"  
  
Quatre had been following the bitch session... sorry argument with something akin to interest but now he was just getting frustrated. "I'm getting the idea that this is part of a _long_ story. I suggest that _someone_ explain." His tone of voice clearly said _NOW_.  
  
There was a slight shuffling of feet before Mercury cleared her throat, unfortunately she wasn't going to answer the question either. "Ahh, Minako-chan, there is no trace of the Nega-energy that previously inhabited his body, nor do there seem to be any after effects resulting from the mind control inflicted by Beryl. I retrieved Jedite's file from the Silver Millennium and he matches that profile perfectly from cognitive ability to personal habits and speech patterns."   
  
The entire room blinked and then sweatdropped silently.  
  
"She hasn't changed a bit." Muttered Jed wryly.  
  
Minako was quick to attempt to clarify what she _thought_ she heard, after all she had some practice in translating what Mercury said. "Ahh... right. So, what you're saying is that he's Jed our friend again and not _Jedite_ who tried to kill you three?"  
  
Mercury nodded.  
  
"Okay. Remind me to hide my shampoo later."  
  
Jed grinned impudently at the Senshi from the bed, the princess still firmly in his arms. "Yep! Phsyco bitch is all gone from my head and I'm your normal, lovable me again."  
  
Wufei smirked, he was beginning to suspect that it wasn't the drugs the scientists had pumped into him making the blonde overly hyperactive and crazy - it was his natural state of mind. Things were bound to get interesting very soon.  
  
Mars seemed to agree with Wufei's silent assessment. Snorting in disgust she glared at the blonde who'd caused her so many problems - both in this life and the last. "You've _got_ to be kidding me. Now the only reason we'll want to kill you is because you're such an annoying idiot!"  
  
Deciding she didn't really want anyone killing her new found soul mate Usagi reacted instinctively and _loudly_ to the threat. "Waaaaaahhhhh! Rei, you can't kill my new boyfriend!"  
  
Everyone blinked, while most in the room had never seen Usagi react like this the Senshi and Quatre _had_ and they found themselves wincing. She hadn't acted like this in _ages_ and they could only look on horrified.  
  
Mars decided to put a stop to it before somebody's eardrums burst. she was particularly blunt too, it was embarrassing when she acted like an overgrown watering pot with amplifiers. "Usagi! You're degenerating."  
  
"Oh." The noise and waterworks stopped abruptly as the blonde thought over her actions. "Sorry, Rei. You can't kill him! Only pound him a little." She amended with a mildly disturbing grin.  
  
Jed blinked violently; this didn't bode well for him, not at _all_ - the last time someone, probably either Neph' or Kunz', had given Mars permission to 'pound him a little' he'd ended up in the hospital wing with 3rd degree burns, two fractured ribs, a broken arm, broken leg and he'd spent a month pulling sand out of the _strangest_ places... Jupiter and Uranus had joined in the 'fun', those two were _scary_ when they were pissed. "Sere-hime!!!"  
  
Usagi looked over at him, a small sad smile on her face, and shook her head. "I'm not Serenity-hime anymore, Jed. I'm more me then her. If you were in love with her you're in for a rude surprise. My name is Usagi..."  
  
"Yeah, I remember." Jed gave her a blinding smile. "Tsukino Usagi. You were on the cruise and at the gym. Did you know how closely I watched you each time? I'd guessed who you probably were, the it was confirmed at the airport, but Beryl didn't give me a chance to tell her... not that I was going to anyway."  
  
Usagi returned the smile with one of her own. Minako and the rest of the Senshi celebrated quietly, they hadn't seen Usagi smile quite like that since Mamoru had broken up with her. "Actually I'm Usagi Serenity Raberba Winner... and I get the feeling that if we don't give my little brother an explanation soon he's going to blow a gasket."  
  
Getting up off the bed, and surprisingly _not_ tripping over the capacious amounts of skirts surrounding her - ahh, the perks of being in princess form - she frowned as she noticed she was _still_ dressed as Princess Serenity. One small frown of concentration later and she was dressed back in the clothes she'd been wearing before all of this happened.  
  
Turning to the five confused Gundam pilots she gave a smile that was supposed to reassure them. It didn't work. "Eh heh. Let's go downstairs and get something to eat 'cause I'm hungry, and then we'll start from the beginning."  
  
Quatre nodded fiercely, his face clearly saying that he expected nothing less and a scowl evident on his features.  
  
Mentally Usagi sighed. **Oh this is going to be _fun_... as much fun as getting teeth pulled out without anaesthetic... or facing down Chaos**  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
[1] M: Yes I read Terry Pratchett too.  
[2] M: *grin* Yet another side story ^_^ Which reminds me, tell us what side stories you want us to write and we'll see what we can do K ^_^.  
S: Here's what we've got planned or have written so far:   
My Brothers Keeper (already written - can be found at ff.net) - dealing with just _why_ the girls were so ticked with Quatre.   
Makoto's side story (that one's written but it won't be coming out for a while, too many spoilers for some of the stuff we have planned.. heh heh.)  
Silver Millennium Protocol (Planning stage)  
How Relena met the scouts. (in the rewriting stage)  
Tales From a Bed Sheet (in the planning stage. It's about the time Wufei spent at Rei's temple)  
I'm sure there's more.. M-chan can you think of any that I've missed.  
[3] S: Trust me, Ami is nastier than you think. I've been watching Sailor Moon through from the start and Ami can actually get quite nasty when she wants to. She's not as sweet as everyone thinks. 


	13. Explanations and Emotions

Chapter 13

As the large group traipsed back downstairs Usagi contemplated just how she was going to explain this... mess with minimal repercussion, groundings and assorted injuries.

Accidentally creating a new bond-mate hasn't exactly helped make the situation any easier either she thought as she looked at the man holding her hand out of the corner of her eye. She didn't need eyes in the back of her head to see the glares being directed their way, nor Quatre's empathy to sense the animosity radiating from some of the female members of the group.

She toyed briefly with the idea of just leaving but decided that in her current state of near exhaustion and extreme hunger it mightn't be the wisest choice of action. She let out an almost inaudible groan The thing with family is that, no matter how long I leave it, or how hard I try to avoid it, eventually I'll have to explain. Like it or not. Especially with this family.

A quick order was placed to Fatima's kitchen and everyone filed into the oversized dining room and took seats. Mostly.

Sailors Mars and Mercury hovered anxiously by the door leading back out to the foyer, waiting for the perfect time to escape **ahem** leave.

Mercury coughed delicately to draw attention to herself before speaking up, "Usagi-hime," the way she stated the title made it obvious it was not a question, "Mars and I will leave you to this. I'll return later and check on you and... Jed. Okay?"

The way in which she said it made it quite obvious that she though Usagi would be in dire need of some sort of medical attention later in the evening and she didn't particularly want to hang around and see just why.

The blonde princess pinned the two fleeing senshi with her crystalline gaze and shook her head ever so slightly, "I don't think so Ami," at Mars' attempt to open her mouth and berate her, loudly, she continued, "Yes, I'm well aware of what I just said Rei. Please, give my brother and his friends some credit. If five Gundam Pilots couldn't deduce who we are from the information they already posses then the world is in a sad state of affairs."

Wufei spoke up from further down the table, "It is not as though some of us were unaware of your identities anyway onna."

His comment successfully made him the new target of the fiery miko's gaze.

She glared at the Chinese warrior she ground out her reply in a frustrated tone, "I've told you before Chang. Call me Rei. Call me Hino if you must, but do NOT call me ONNA!"

Wufei just snorted lightly, "Then sit down. When the time comes you and I can tell this grand gathering of my vacation at your temple."

Usagi just smirked at the boys' baiting of the girl with a temper problem and spoke up, "Ami you can add your part to the explanation as well."

The blue haired senshi sighed and nodded resignedly, "May I suggest that we include Makoto in these discussions as well?"

Usagi tilted her head to one side, contemplating the request, then nodded briefly. Ami quickly made the call, and after a quick explanation of just why she was needed and what to expect, Makoto promised to be there shortly.

The two senshi de-transformed, leaving the Gundam pilots blinking. Transformation was just as strange, less sparkly, but still very strange.

The food was brought to the dining room and was quickly and quietly devoured by those gathered there. As the plates were being cleared away Makoto was shown in and, after quickly assessing the mood of the rooms occupants, simply nodded to the group in greeting.

As they made their way out of the dining room and across the foyer to one of the sitting rooms Makoto perused the blonde man who was escorting her friend. She was making sure he was suitable for her princess, honest! He was rather easy on the eyes though. Makoto didn't actually say the words but all the senshi could see them running through her head.

The entourage took up various seats, couches and pieces of floor around the room. Jed had installed himself in a comfy looking recliner and, as Usagi made her way past him headed for a couch, he grabbed her hips and promptly situated her on his lap trapped in place by his arms around her waist.

The girl let out a strangled 'meep' of surprise at her abrupt change of position but quickly adjusted, squirming in Jed's lap to get comfortable.

Both Quatre and Haruka had looked over that the noise and upon seeing Usagi's new 'seat' the pair frowned in unison. As Quatre passed by the two, headed for the couch that had been Usagi's previous destination, he addressed the smug looking blonde man, "You do realize your legs are never going to be the same again after her sitting on them for any length of time don't you?"

Usagi glared at her brother, "Oi!" She watched him curl up on the couch beside Trowa and decided to let it pass. At least he hadn't forcibly removed her, which she knew he could and would have quite easily have done if he'd wanted. She sighed, May as well get this over with. "Okay. Quatre, where do you want me to start?"

The boy in question raised on sardonic eyebrow over his aqua-blue eyes, "Well," he drawled "the beginning is usually a good place."

His fellow Gundam pilots glanced at him; Quatre must be really ticked to be resorting to sarcasm.

Usagi simply raised an eyebrow back at him and commented in a similar tone, "Hmmm. Imagine that. Now... did you want me to start with the first time we were incarnated?" She tilted her head at him and blinked her eyes opening them wide, almost innocent looking, if you ignored the voice anyway, "Or when I rescued a black cat on the way to school?"

Haruka and Minako both flinched. If this kept up they'd have a fully-fledged screaming match on their hands, followed by crying, door slamming concluding with sulking fits from both parties. Not fun.

Minako decided to interrupt before things got more out of hand "Guys chill!" She gave both of them a stern look and, surprisingly, they subsided. "Usa you start with the Silver Millennium, then I'll do Sailor V," this comment caused some raised eyebrows, "And then we can take turns doing the rest okay?"

Usagi just shrugged slightly but upon seeing her sisters' unflinching gaze she sighed softly and nodded, "Okay. I'll tell you all," she indicated towards the boys, "about the Silver Millennium but please don't interrupt. I'll answer all of your question as the end. The story might not seem relevant but it is, just trust me."

After getting nods of agreement from various parties around the room she launched into her story, "Once upon a time... Okay I'll be serious. About 1000 years ago all the planets in the solar system were a part of an alliance know as the 'Silver Millennium', well all bar Earth anyway. It was considered too..."

Jed snickered softly, his breath tickling the back of Usagi's neck, "Barbaric is the word you're looking for, though we were often called worse."

Usagi nodded distractedly and continued, "It was a peaceful time. The centre of the Silver Millennium was the Moon. The Moon Kingdom was ruled over by Queen Serenity. She was a kind and just Queen and she was doing her best to bring Earth into the alliance and by doing so hopefully ridding it of it's practices of youma raising and demon worship.

"Queen Serenity had a daughter, most imaginatively named Princess Serenity. The Moon Princess had been raised at court along with the other princesses of the inner planets. Queen Serenity invited the Prince of Earth to the Moon on an ambassadorial mission with hopes that one of the princesses would become enamoured of him and, by marriage, bring Earth into the Silver Millennium.

"Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion hated each other on sight and it quickly became obvious that the Princess' 16th birthday party would be doubling as and engagement party.

"The prince, however, had an admirer on Earth, a duchess named Beryl had eyes upon the Crown Prince. While the prince was back on Earth she tried, unsuccessfully, to get him to break the engagement. Upon her rejection she flew into a rage and, with the help of a higher demon by name of Metallia, she kidnapped and brainwashed Endymion's four guardians.

"On the night of the engagement party Beryl and the four Generals commanded a force that attacked the Moon Kingdom and killed everyone there.

"Queen Serenity couldn't bear what had happened and, with the last of her strength, she used the Ginzuishou and sent her daughter and court to the future to be reborn. It was a two edged sword however as she had to send Beryl and her minions as well."

Usagi took a deep breath in and pulled herself away from the memories that telling the story evoked. She looked around the room a quirky smile twitched her lips, "Many questions?"

Trowa was the first to speak up, "There used to be life on all the planets of the solar system?" Various nods confirmed this so he continued, "Why have no ruins been found on the Moon or Mars?"

It was a mysterious voice that answered Trowa's question from one of the corners of the room causing most of the rooms' inhabitants to start with surprise, "There is a glamour on all of the royal palaces. You can look straight at them and your gaze slides off, you can walk through the halls and only remember an unremarkable landscape."

While the boys watched the Senshi of time guardedly the girls simply nodded again. Usagi gestured towards a seat.

Pluto shook her head slightly causing her dark green hair to sway gently, "Thank you Usagi-hime but not," She ignored the girls' glare, "I just came to inform Haruka and Michiru that I'll be picking up Hotaru and to remind General Jedite that I prefer my hair to remain its natural colour."

She inclined her head to her Princess and then stepped through the doorway that had conveniently appeared.

Jed shook his head resignedly, "Typical Setsuna, appear from nowhere, drop a bombshell, frighten the life out of everyone and then leave."

The senshi all giggled, to one extent or another, the summary, though blunt, did sum up the mysterious senshi's personality quite well.

"Setsuna is Pluto."

The statement came from Heero who was sitting in one of a set of two recliners beside a small coffee table.

Ami, who was, well, reclining in the other seat couldn't resist baiting the pilot, a habit she had developed rather quickly after his arrival. It had her fellow senshi beginning to doubt the 'Intelligence' claim in her title.

"Who else haven't you figured out yet?"

Not so surprisingly the boy shot her a cold glare that she simply shrugged off, "Saturn and Pluto were the only two unknowns."

Michiru spoke up firmly, "If Saturn wishes to inform you of her identity she can do so herself." All the senshi nodded in agreement with this statement, they were nearly as protective of the youngest of their group as they were of their Princess, and "I believe you had some more question to ask Usagi-hime?"

Usagi twitched slightly at the name, Just because we've been... busted it doesn't mean they have to call me that all the time! I mean they're all princesses too!

Wufei spoke, "The Moon Kingdom would have been very well fortified am I correct?"

Haruka snorted, "That's one way of putting it."

He nodded and forged on, "Then how did they breach your defences? There would have been many capable warriors, the attack should have been halted if not repelled."

Ami, Makoto, Minako and Rei all flinched visibly and dropped their gazes to the carpet. Wufei had just hit upon the point that, even after 1000 years, they still blamed themselves for. Their lovesick blindness and naivety had cost the Moon Kingdom more than they had ever thought possible.

Minako's voice was bitter and full of self-recrimination; "They found it very easy to over-run. After all we opened the doors for them... Literally."

Usagi frowned at the leader of her personal senshi, "Minako..." there was a warning tone in her voice, "You couldn't have known. None of you could have. Endymion's guards were our friends, and more. When you opened the gates you couldn't have even suspected that they were not exactly what they appeared to be."

Minako broke her gaze from her sisters' and sighed in self-disgust, "Having your throat slit by one of your lovers gives you a pretty good idea that you've royally stuffed up."

The room winced.

"So you," Duo indicated the inner senshi, "Were all killed when you opened the gates." They nodded, "So what happened to the Princess?"

"Beryl killed her and Endymion when she saw them together."

Jed frowned slightly and shook his head, "Um. No. Endy-sama, in one of his usual brainless acts of bravery went off to defend his beloveds' kingdom and promptly got slaughtered." He shook his head in disbelief, "You can't use classical swordsmanship on a battlefield it just doesn't work like that. The ditzy little princess saw her beloved get shishkabobed and came running out to hold him as his life slipped away." Rather that saying this in a romantic 'Oh-it's-so-sweet' voice his narration was being conducted in a rather sarcastic tone of voice while dodging the 'ditzy' princess' rather sharp elbows.

"Then, in true romantic tragedy style, she took up his dagger and plunged it through her heart. Queen Serenity couldn't take it so she sent everyone to the future trapping Beryl's most dangerous weapon in the Ginzuishou."

"Jed..." Usagi groaned and was trying in vain to vanish. As if she didn't have enough problems already! She'd never bothered to correct the version of her death that Luna and Artemis had told her protectors and now said protectors were looking a tad upset over the version they'd just heard. She braced herself.

"USAGI!"

"KONEKO!"

"SERENITY!"

Usagi cringed but steeled herself and looked up at the enraged senshi, both inner and outer, "I'm sorry guys, for not telling you, but it's not exactly one of my favourite memories either. You remember how crazy Serenity was for Endymion, does it really surprise you that much?"

The senshi backed down under her flat glare and Usagi looked around the room, "Any more questions on the Silver Millennium?"

Quatre motioned towards Haruka and Michiru, "Where were you?"

Haruka grimaced slightly, "Traditionally it is the job of the inner senshi to guard the Princess and the Outer senshi to protect the system from invasion. Well Pluto protects the time gate and Saturn sleeps lest she destroy all. When the Kingdom was caught unaware and Queen Serenity died Saturn awoke and placed Silence on the remainder of the Silver Millennium starting the new age. We were killed at our posts."

Quatre blinked, momentarily stunned, "Saturn killed you."

Michiru nodded calmly, "It is a very powerful attack. It is one of the reasons why Saturn is so feared, she has the ability to destroy a planet with three words."

The group fell silent for a few moments, processing what they had learnt so far.

Minako broke the contemplative silence, "If there are no more questions I'll go on as I was the first of the Inner senshi to awaken." She glanced around the room and, upon seeing no objections, began her story.

"When father... fostered me out I was sent to a family living in England, good thing I actually payed attention in our English tutes ne? Anyway I was going to school and doing a little bit of acting and singing when I first met Artemis. He awoke me and together we began to fight both crime and the youma that had been appearing in England. Rather than fighting as Sailor Venus though I went as Sailor V, I was a decoy for the Princess. Part of Queen Serenities spell had fogged everyone's memories of her, all we knew was that she was blonde and we must protect her. Ironically enough I starred in some of the Sailor V movies. After a while Artemis got word that there were other Senshi active in Japan and I started to fight less and less crime and only youma. When my foster parents were transferred over here I faked Sailor V's death in an explosion and continued fighting over here as Sailor Venus. Not that interesting I know but it's my contribution to the story. 1"

A quick look around the room confirmed that everyone seemed happy with that little monologue.

Usagi sat up slightly in Jed's embrace and sighed a little, "My turn again," she looked to her fellow senshi, "Like Mina I was fostered out but I was sent to the Tsukino's here in Japan." She now directed her narrative to her brother and his friends, "When I was about 14 I was walking to school one day and saw a group of toadie little kids torturing a cat. To my eternal regret I rescued her. Anyway after I got home from school the cat had moved into my room. She then proceeded to inform me that I was Sailor Moon and it was my 'destiny' to find and protect the Moon Princess. Luna no baka! Talk about Swiss cheese memories!"

The cat in question opened one eye from where she was napping and snorted, "Like you can talk Usagi. You're first comment after transforming was 'But I want to play Sailor V games, not live them!'"

The room snickered, Luna had done a very credible imitation of the girls' sometimes whiney voice.

"Anyway. I fought youma and slowly discovered the other Senshi. Ami's computer school was attacked, so was Rei's temple. Makoto started a fight with one of Beryl's generals, tagged him too – without transforming. We fought the four generals while they tried to gather energy and the ninzuishou. Tuxedo mask helped us fight too."

Jed snorted, "If you call 'help' balancing on a light pole while wearing evening dress while spouting useless phrases like 'Now Sailor Moon!' and 'You can do it Sailor Senshi have faith in one another'."

It seemed that Luna wasn't the only one capable of doing a good imitation and the girls in the room dissolved into laughter while the boys goggled at the imagery that statement produced.

Usagi sobered up a little, "Then Mina-chan showed up..."

"And saved your lazy butts!"

The blonde rolled her eyes at her sisters interruption, "Yes and saved our butts. At first we thought she was the Princess but... the encounter in Starlight Tower revealed the Princess and the fact that Tuxedo Mask was Endymion." Usagi took a deep shuddering breath, "But..."

It was clear to the group gathered there that something about this topic was disturbing Usagi greatly.

Ami looked at the shaking moon princess wrapped tightly in their former enemies arms and picked up the tale.

"Endymion was badly injured and before we could do anything to help him he was kidnapped by Beryl. We spent the next few weeks fighting him and Beryl's last general. We finally located Beryl's headquarters and attacked her there. After the final battle we all lost our memories of what had happened and went back to a 'normal' life."

Wufei spoke up, his scholars mind having assessed the facts presented to him and spotting a glaring discrepancy, "So after her quite easily defeating you in the Silver Millennium you defeated her just like that?"

The expressions of the faces of the inner senshi showed quite clearly that there was much more than that to it.

Usagi looked up, her eyes haunted and focussed on something only she could see, "They all died."

The tone of her voice was flat but at the same time filled with immeasurable grief, "To protect me from my infatuation, naivety and stupidity they all died horrid, painful deaths. Then Endymion died protecting me from Beryl. Then I used the crystal to defeat Metallia and I died too."

The room winced in unison and Wufei didn't disagree with Duo when he commented on how he must be rubbing off on his lover to have put his foot in that so spectacularly.

Usagi wrenched herself away from the painful memories with a shake, "I made a wish on the crystal that everything was 'normal' again and it was. It's caused a lot of confusion, especially since we essentially redid one year of middle school.

"We got our memories back when Ail and Ann attacked. We helped them out and then lived a normal life with our memories for about two days.Chibi-Usa arrived and the Darkmoon were after her. We converted some of their lackies, they didn't like that much, killed others and helped Chibi-Usa free her parents. We met Sailor Pluto around then too.

"Once again we got about a weeks free time before we started fighting again. This time it was the Death Busters. It didn't exactly help that there were two senshi running around who couldn't decide which side they were on. In the end the Messiah of Light took up the Chalice and defeated Pharaoh 90 and Sailors Uranus, Neptune and Saturn joined us.

"Our next enemy was Queen Nepherenia and her Dead Moon Circus. With the help of Sailor Chibi-Moon and Pegasus we won that battle. Finally we fought Sailor Galaxia and Chaos.

"Lately we've been destroying whatever youma, diamon and lemurs were left over from those enemies, along with any others that find their way into our world and cause trouble."

Quatre was eyeing his sisters dangerously. It had been discovered, the hard way, that when the cool, calm, collected Winners lost their tempers they did so in a most spectacular fashion.

"So," he drawled softly, "You're telling me that you've been willingly putting yourselves in danger since you were 14."

Usagi glowered at the blonde boy and struggled valiantly to control her temper but in the end lost that particular battle quite appallingly, "Yes Quatre we have." she ground out in a biting tone of voice, "But do you think we liked it? All I wanted was a 'normal' life. Do you know how it feels to remember living to 16 twice? No you don't. We only do this because we have to. We are the only people capable! Think a bit, how do you thing we felt? We knew that everyday you were risking your life in SandRock. We were the only ones capable of defeating our enemies Quatre but we were more than qualified to help you.

"Every day we put our lives on the line so that you weren't risking yours for a planet and group of colonies that didn't exist anymore. You didn't even know what we were doing Quat but we were well aware, you have no idea how aware, that everyday you were risking your life and there was NOTHING we could do about it! Do you honestly think we would have stayed in Juuban if the Sailor Senshi hadn't been needed here? Of course not! But everyday, every damn day, we had to worry abut you and wonder if we could have done something to prevent Fathers' death if things had been different.

"Could we have ended the War more quickly? Don't try and lay a guilt trip on me Quatre, I know it upsets you to think we were in danger and there was nothing you could do about it but you were in danger and we didn't know and believe me that is far, far worse."

By the end of her tirade Usagi was standing toe to toe with her little brother on the carpet, blue eyes were glaring at each other with an intensity that was quite daunting.

Quatre let out a shuddering breath and tried to get a hold of his emotions, then he spoke in a quiet and firm voice to the girl in front of him, "No, I don't know what it's like Usa, but even after the fact and even knowing that I couldn't have done anything to help, that you risked your lives and could have, no did die, chills me. All of us," he indicated both the senshi and his fellow pilots, "have lost so much. Family, childhood, the semblance of a 'normal' life. That I could have lost any of you," he placed a hand on his chest, "frightens me more than you have any idea. It was horrid loosing, no, having father taken from us, loosing the three of you and not knowing why would have," he looked away slightly "It probably would have killed me, if it hadn't... It probably would have sent me insane. I love everyone else but you three... you understand. Just... just please, tell us what you're doing and we'll do our best to help, keep out of the way, whatever okay? I'm sorry I didn't get your help in the War but, I guess I fell prey to the same fault, I wanted to protect you. I promise if anything else happens I'll tell you and if we have time you can all help too. Okay?"

They looked at each other matching blue eyes, both filled with tears of frustration, fear and anger.

Usagi gave a small sob, "Promise," she gasped as she through herself into his arms "Oh Quat…"

The boy held her tight and buried his face between her odango's as she sobbed into his shoulder, murmuring quietly to her, "It's okay Usa. It's okay."

Quatre sat back down on the couch this time though he had Usagi in his arms.

"Okay now Ami, you knew who we were when we first arrived. How?"

The blue haired girl just gave a small shrug as if to say 'time to come clean' "My mother is a renown scientist and doctor. When she was still making a name for herself she was part of a research team under Dr. J. To promote herself further I was engaged in various training techniques. Like Usagi, Minako, Makoto and Haruka I failed to interface properly with the equipment, I assume the reaction must have something to do with our senshi powers. Instead of piloting I focussed on my computer skill and became the hacker and informant known as Calculus."

Quatre nodded, short and to the point.

"Makoto."

The brunette looked up from her contemplation of Jed. She was trying to reconcile some of her memories of the man from the Silver Millennium… honest. "Hmm? Oh. Okay. My parents were part of one of the mercenary troops that S trialled looking for a Gundam pilot. I was accepted, had the same problem as the other, was sent to earth. End of story."

It was obvious that there were some open emotional wounds in the story but after the last hour Quatre decided he might be better off not pursuing it.

"Rei?"

"Nothing so spectacular I'm afraid. Apparently Laoshin O and my grandfather go way back. Grandpa offered the shrine as a safe house. Wufei showed up bleeding like and stuck pig and I took care of him until he could go and harass someone else."

Quatre looked around the room at his exhausted friends and family, "I think maybe we should all go and sleep on this. If there are any further questions we can discuss it in the morning. Yes?" he didn't wait for any arguments or agreements just lifted the girl in his arms and headed for the door.

As he left the room he called back over his shoulder, "Feel free to make any calls you may need to, there are spare clothes and toiletries for guests in all the suites. I'll see you all in the morning."


End file.
